AppleMagazine March022018

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FACEBOOK:
THE DECLINE
OF SOCIAL MEDIA
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ANATOMY OF A NEW SERVICES,

BITCOIN TRANSACTION: TECHNOLOGIES CAN HELP
BUYING A USED SUBARU WITH AGING IN PLACE
40
STATE OF THE ART:
MUSEUM TAKES
HI-TECH LOOK
AT VERMEER
18 138
MICROSOFT FIGHTS US IN HIGH COURT TO PROTECT GLOBAL BUSINESS 08
LESS IS MORE AS COMPANIES EXPLORE SHOPPING BY VOICE 28
HYPERLOOP TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES, NOACA, ANNOUNCE PARTNERS... 32
DROPBOX SEEKING TO RAISE $500 MILLION IN STOCK MARKET DEBUT 50
NEW SAMSUNG PHONE: NICER CAMERA, STATIC DESIGN, HIGHER PRICE 72
STORES MAKE PUSH IN SCAN AND GO TECH, HOPE SHOPPERS ADOPT IT 82
CALIFORNIA OKS AUTONOMOUS CAR TESTING WITHOUT BACKUP DRIVERS 90
FORD AND MIAMI TO FORM TEST BED FOR SELF-DRIVING CARS 96
BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘BLACK PANTHER’ 124
ED SHEERAN IS WORLD’S BEST-SELLING RECORDING ARTIST OF 2017 134
JUSTICES LOOK AT HOW OLDER LAW APPLIES TO INTERNET CLOUD 144
Q&A: COMCAST EXEC ON THE FUTURE OF THE CABLE BUNDLE 150
3 SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS RETURN TO EARTH 156
FOXCONN PLANT COULD REDUCE ROAD FUNDING BY $90 MILLION 170
AMAZON TO BUY RING, MAKER OF WI-FI--CONNECTED DOORBELLS 172
AIRBNB UNVEILS NEW CATEGORY OF RENTALS RATED BY INSPECTORS 176
TOP 10 APPS 104

iTUNES REVIEW 108
TOP 10 SONGS 160
TOP 10 ALBUMS 162
TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 164
TOP 10 TV SHOWS 166
TOP 10 BOOKS 168
Image: Stephen Brashear
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MICROSOFT
FIGHTS US IN
HIGH COURT TO
PROTECT GLOBAL
BUSINESS
Microsoft has an eye on its international

customers as it confronts the Trump
administration in a Supreme Court fight about
turning over emails to investigators.
The justices will hear arguments over whether

the company, as part of an international drug
trafficking investigation, must comply with an
American warrant for emails stored on a server
in a Microsoft facility in Dublin, Ireland.
The case turns on a law written in 1986,

long before the advent of cloud computing,
when lawmakers couldn’t imagine a world
in which Microsoft and other technology
companies store data around the world. The
Stored Communications Act sets rules for
authorities when they want to gain access to
electronic communications.
A federal appeals court agreed with Microsoft

that the emails were beyond the warrant’s reach
because they are kept outside the United States.
But the larger context is the technology sector’s

need “to give customers around the world
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Image: Carlos Barria
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confidence that they can rely on us,” Microsoft’s
president, Brad Smith, told reporters in a
telephone call last week.
The concerns stem in part from the 2013 leak

of classified information detailing America’s
surveillance programs and the role Microsoft
and others played in turning over emails and
other information.
Smith recalled a conversation in Berlin in which

a German official warned that Microsoft and its
American rivals risked losing foreign business if
they couldn’t protect their information from the
U.S. government.
“I said then that we’d persist with this case all the
way to the Supreme Court, if that were necessary.
That’s where we are today,” Smith said. Amazon,
Apple, Facebook, Google and IBM are among
other technology companies backing Microsoft.
The Trump administration said it’s wrong to look

at this case as involving foreign data. Microsoft
can send data wherever it wants and retrieve
information from around the world with a few
clicks of a mouse at its Redmond, Washington,
headquarters, the administration said, holding
the same view as the Obama administration.
The problem is even more complex for

information held by Google, which “stores
the emails of U.S. users all over the world,
sometimes breaking an account into multiple
‘shards,’” Solicitor General Noel Francisco wrote
in his Supreme Court brief. Google sometimes
stores the text of an email in one place and
attachments in another, Francisco said.
Thirty-five states on the government’s side say a

win for Microsoft would especially hamper drug
and sex crime investigations.
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Image: Sean Gallup
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The technology companies have built data
centers around the world to keep up with
customers’ demands for speed and access.
Microsoft maintains servers at more than
100 locations in 40 countries, according to
court papers.
A federal judge in New York signed the warrant

for the Microsoft account in December 2013.
Investigators believed it was being used in illegal
drug transactions. Court documents say nothing
about the account holder’s citizenship or
country of residence, but Smith said Microsoft’s
policy is to store data in the country where the
user lives or in a center closest to that country.
Microsoft turned over information about

the user of the account, but went to court to
defend its decision not to hand over the emails
from Ireland.
For as much interest as the case has drawn — 30

briefs from other technology companies, foreign
governments, civil liberties groups, media
companies and privacy experts — Congress
could limit the effect of a high court ruling or
make the case go away altogether if it were to
pass bipartisan legislation updating the 1986
Stored Communications Act. The proposed
legislation, known as the Cloud Act, has the
backing of the administration and Microsoft.
Smith said Microsoft agrees that “law

enforcement needs information across
borders,” but that should happen under “a new
generation” of U.S. and international laws.
The Cloud Act says “the location of data

shouldn’t matter,” said Jennifer Daskal, an
American University law professor. But it
also includes a provision that would allow
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technology companies to resist some
government requests for information,
Daskal said.
Privacy experts say the legislation does not do

enough to protect consumer interests either in
the United States or abroad.
A decision in US vs Microsoft, 17-2, is expected

by late June.
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ANATOMY OF
A BITCOIN
TRANSACTION:
BUYING A
USED SUBARU
Bitcoins can buy you a TAG Heuer watch, a cross-

country flight or a meatball marinara sub. But
really, how does it work?
Purchases with bitcoin and other digital

currencies remain rare relative to cash and credit
cards. Many bitcoin holders value it more as an
investment than a day-to-day currency.
And the complex workings behind the

notoriously volatile currency can be off-putting
to neophytes. What are the fees? Are there
taxes? How do you spend a currency that
can devalue dramatically between ordering
appetizers and paying the check?
Buying with bitcoin can be as easy as tapping

your phone, though there are some cautions.
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A look at a single bitcoin transaction, the sale
of a 2017 Subaru from an upstate New York car
dealer to a buyer from Virginia:
IN BUSINESS WITH BITCOIN

Eugene Rubinchuk didn’t get into digital
currency for the anonymity or to strike a blow
against centralized banking. He was just looking
for more business.
Rubinchuk and his father, who goes by “Mike

the Russian,” already ham it up in local TV
commercials for Michael’s Auto Plaza wearing
furry hats. Digital currency is just another
potential edge.
“It’s just a way to reach customers we normally

couldn’t reach, that normally wouldn’t think of
us,” he said.
Buying with bitcoin can be as easy as tapping

your phone, though there is a learning curve.
Bitcoin miner fees have dropped markedly this
year, and advocates say congestion issues are
being solved by new technologies. (Feb. 27)
The cars and truck on the lot near Albany are

priced in U.S. dollars. Rubinchuk simply signed up
for one of the services that allowed him to accept
digital currencies if a bitcoin buyer came along.
CASHING IN CRYPTOCURRENCY
Jonathan Cypert got into bitcoin early and
made out well.
In 2011, he read about a 2-year-old currency

skyrocketing in value and soon invested $2,000
in computers to “mine” bitcoins for about a year
and a half. That’s the complicated process that
rewards tech-savvy participants for verifying
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bitcoin transactions in its public ledger, called
the blockchain.
When he started, a single bitcoin was worth

around $2.50. By the time he was ready to buy a
used, low-mileage Subaru for his wife, a bitcoin
was worth over $14,000.
The 32-year-old Virginia resident sees his bitcoin

cache as a nest egg to tide him over after he
retires from the military. (Wary of attracting
scammers, Cypert requested that his hometown
and military branch not be made public). The
purchase gave him a chance to recoup his
investment many times over with a fraction of
his cache.
“At this point it’s like, why not?” Cypert said. “I

might as well realize some of that gain.”
BITCOIN BARGAINING
Rubinchuk and Cypert talked on the phone the
evening of Jan. 2 and settled on a sale price on
the Subaru WRX STI of $34,640.
Then they had to agree on what that equaled

in bitcoins judging by the exchange rates
that moment. Tracking bitcoin prices on their
screens, the pair agreed to proceed with
one bitcoin equaling about $14,755. Cypert
sent 2.34790481 bitcoins from his personal
electronic wallet to the public address of
Rubinchuk’s wallet.
Cypert also paid a network fee of about $3.50,

money that goes to reward miners and keep the
system running.
Then Rubinchuk watched bitcoin’s value go up

and down as he waited to convert his digital
money into dollars.
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BLOCKCHAIN BLUES
Rubinchuk wanted to convert quickly in case
bitcoin’s value suddenly dropped against the
dollar, costing him money. The fear is well-
founded, since bitcoin’s value can gain or lose
more than $400 in a half-hour.
But the digital currency service he uses required

him to wait for multiple confirmations from the
bitcoin network before he could convert it into
dollars, a process can be affected by network
congestion and other factors. Rubinchuk recalls
waiting about 30 to 45 minutes.
“I’m sitting there on pins and needles checking

every five minutes if it’s available,” he said.
Rubinchuk converted the sale into dollars with

bitcoin just slightly below where it was at the
time of the sale earlier that evening. He made
about $7 less than the sale price.
The money was in his business’s bank account

within 48 hours.
Rubinchuk soon after signed up for a separate

merchant account through another provider
that assesses him a 1 percent fee on all
transactions, insulating him from short-term
volatility. He compares it favorably to credit card
fees that run 2 to 3 percent for merchants.
KEEPING IT LEGAL
Digital currencies are notoriously used by criminals
to transfer funds anonymously. But Rubinchuk
told the tax collector about this transaction.
In a standard IRS form for cash payments over

$10,000, he reported the money he received,
from whom it came and the fact that it
originated “via bitcoin.”
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Cypert avoided sales tax under a federal law
covering service members that lets him retain
his official residency in Alaska, which does
not have a sales tax.
But he will pay taxes on a long-term

capital gain.
YOUR TIME MAY VARY

Bitcoin miner fees have dropped markedly this
year, and advocates say congestion issues are
being solved by new technologies. Rubinchuk
waited about 15 minutes to make a dollar
exchange last week for his second bitcoin sale,
a 2016 Hyundai Elantra.
And recently in Hillsboro, Oregon, Jeff Hanzlik

bought $288 worth of marijuana-growing
supplies from a store in a transaction that
took a few minutes to finalize. He transmitted
0.03305451 in bitcoins from his phone, which
read a code on the merchant’s tablet. The
same phone app allowed Hanzlik to choose to
pay about a quarter in fees.
“Once you understand what this technology

is and this genie’s out of the bottle, you’re not
going to have any choice but to be using it in
the future,” Hanzlik said.
But the bitcoin network at this stage is

still not well suited for smaller, everyday
transactions, said Christian Catalini, founder
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
Cryptoeconomics Lab.
“If you’re thinking about paying for coffee in

bitcoin, that’s not what it’s good at right now,”
he said. “Things can change.”
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LESS IS MORE
AS COMPANIES
EXPLORE SHOPPING
BY VOICE
When the world shifted from personal

computers to smartphones, websites had to
slim down to work on smaller screens and
slower wireless connections. A similar shift to
voice-centric services is again forcing businesses
to rethink how they present information to
consumers — and spurring new efforts to help
them do so.
The software company Adobe, for instance,

announced this week a new suite of tools that
could help airlines, retailers and other companies
create simple voice interfaces for travel and
shopping. It’s not a simple task, since a voice-
based digital assistant can’t really list dozens of
flight options or hundreds of products.
That means companies have to figure out how

to winnow down those choices to the travel
options or products people are most likely to
want — an inherently fraught undertaking.
The technology is still in its infancy, and Adobe

doesn’t have any actual corporate partners to
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showcase yet. But its announcement, made
in conjunction with a tech show in Barcelona,
Spain, shows that voice assistants are becoming
important channels for reaching consumers.
Amazon’s voice-shopping feature already boils

down shopping requests to one or two options
and makes buying easy because it already has
payment and shipping information for voice-
eligible customers. But smaller businesses don’t
have the computing resources and expertise
to match that, which is where companies like
Adobe come in.
Analyst Carolina Milanesi with Creative

Strategies says she’s not aware of another
service trying to help companies improve how
they reach their customers through voice.
In practice, making voice capabilities useful

means anticipating what customers want.
Travel sites, for instance, let people limit a
search to, say, nonstop flights, but that’s more
cumbersome when they’re talking to a service.
Adobe promises to help narrow those options
automatically, so that someone who earns
points in United and likes early morning flights
might hear only those matches.
Adobe’s new voice service will work with all major

voice assistants, not just Amazon’s. It will limit
its analysis to data provided by the particular
company people are shopping at, instead of
trying to pulling together a more comprehensive
personal profile from multiple sources.
That will limit the accuracy of its personalization

compared to what Adobe says it could provide.
But the company believes consumers aren’t
going to be comfortable with that broader
profiling yet.
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HYPERLOOP
TRANSPORTATION
TECHNOLOGIES,
NOACA,
ANNOUNCE
PARTNERS IN
$1.2 MILLION STUDY
OF CLEVELAND-
CHICAGO ROUTE
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and the

Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency
announced the names of 18 businesses and
nonprofit or academic organizations that have
joined their partnership to explore a potential
Great Lakes Hyperloop link between Cleveland
and Chicago.
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The list includes: Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems,
Corp., Ohio State University, ZIN Technologies,
Ohio Aerospace Institute, Jobs Ohio, America
Makes, Oak Ridge National Labs, Ohio Aerospace
and Aviation Council, Ohio Aerospace and
Aviation Technology Committee, Wright State
Research Institute, The Gateway Group, Additive
Engineering Solutions, Eureka Ranch, The Universi
ty of Akron, The University of Akron Research
Foundation, University of Cincinnati SpaceX
Hyperloop Competition Team, The Greater Akron
Chamber, and the City of Akron.
HTT, which is based in Playa Vista, California,

said in a news release that it would lead the
consortium through a 6- to 9-month feasibility
study, for which HTT and NOACA have raised
$1.2 million.
“We have said from the beginning that the

Hyperloop will take a movement,” Dirk Ahlborn,
CEO of HTT, said in the news release. “The
Great Lakes Hyperloop is by far the largest
movement of private and public organizations
working with a Hyperloop company to develop
a system in the United States. We are inviting
other cities and organizations throughout the
region to join us in bringing the next mode of
transportation to reality.”
“The Great Lakes mega-region represents a

$15 billion transportation market with tens
of millions of tons of cargo and millions of
passengers connecting to the cities within the
region every year,” Grace Gallucci, executive
director of NOACA, said in the news release.
“Technologies like the Hyperloop can take
our over-stressed infrastructure into the 21st
century and beyond.”
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Image: Peter Hurley
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The Cleveland-Chicago project is not to
be confused with a separate project led by
Hyperloop One, a separate company based in
Los Angeles, which recently picked a Chicago-
Columbus-Pittsburgh link as one of 10 around
the globe that it wants to explore.
Last Tuesday, the Mid-Ohio Regional

Planning Commission (MORPC) said it was
launching a Rapid-Speed Transportation
Initiative (RSTI) to explore intercity routes that
could use either traditional passenger rail and/or
Hyperloop technology to link Chicago,
Columbus, and Pittsburgh.
The MORPC announcement said it would

conduct a feasibility study of Hyperloop
technology for the corridor, followed by an
environmental study. The planning agency
said it anticipated the cost would reach
$2.5 million.
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NEW SERVICES,
TECHNOLOGIES
CAN HELP WITH
AGING IN PLACE
There is nothing quite as devastating for

many older people as having to leave the
comfort of home because of poor health or
limited mobility.
But a new generation of services and

technology is making it possible to stay at
home longer, safely and happily, experts say.
“Most people would rather stay in their own

homes as they age, and technology has
made that easier in so many ways,” says Amy
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Goyer, a family and caregiving expert with the
AARP and author of “Juggling Life, Work, and
Caregiving,” published by the AARP and the
American Bar Association.
“There are a lot of resources to tap into, even for

those on a limited budget.”
She recommends starting with the “caregiving”

page of AARP.org and your local Area Agency
on Aging network (see www.n4a.org), which
is federally funded and also can lead you to a
range of state and local resources.
Beyond technology, a little creativity often goes

a long way toward helping people manage to
live at home longer, Goyer says.
“If a person can’t do stairs, for example, consider

ways to put everything they need on the main
floor, like maybe bringing a washing machine up
from the basement,” she says.
Some of the latest services and technologies

that make it easier to “age in place”:
SAFETY
Digital locks, which can be part of a smart home
system, can be set so the door is unlocked for a
small window of time to allow a caregiver into
the house. Different codes can be set up for
different people. They can be monitored from
afar on phones, as can digital doorbells, which
might help both the hearing and
mobility impaired.
Digital medication dispensers can send text

notifications to loved ones to let them know
whether someone has taken their pills. Cameras
can be installed so loved ones know whether
home health aides have come by.
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And there is a wide range of medical alert
systems, some even including a GPS.
“My aunt fell in a parking lot and luckily someone

was there and picked her up, but if they hadn’t
been there, a medical alert system could have
made a world of a difference,” Goyer says.
Also, simple things like lowering thresholds,

improving lighting, putting in railings and
removing small rugs can make a home
much safer.
TRANSPORTATION
Many counties and community agencies have
some kind of senior taxi run by volunteers to
take seniors to doctors’ appointments, grocery
stores, senior centers and other errands. Ride-
sharing companies have also proven helpful for
many. The site www.GoGoGrandparent.com,
for example, is designed to be easy to use for
seniors — they don’t need to use a phone —
and taps into local ride-sharing services. It
can be paid for by relatives living out of town,
who also receive notifications of pickups and
drop-offs.
Justin Boorgaard co-founded the company

with friend David Lung in 2016 to help
Boorgaard’s grandmother maintain her
mobility and independence.
“Her independence, and the independence

given back to her family is something we believe
the world needs,” he says. “We screen drivers and
use only those with the best reviews. We filter
them to make sure they have cars with room for
walkers, canes, foldable wheelchairs or service
dogs, and we step in to help if something’s not
going right.”
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FOOD
“Meals are a big thing when you’re trying to set
everything up for aging at home, and a lot of
people don’t have the energy or ability to cook
for themselves,” Goyer says.
In addition to Meals on Wheels , which is

administered by local communities and
delivers reasonably priced prepared meals to
those unable to cook for themselves, “there
are all kinds of interesting options out there
for all kinds of budgets,” she says. Services like
BlueApron and HelloFresh will deliver either
ingredients or meals, and Pea Pod , Amazon
Fresh and InstaCart can deliver groceries and
other items across most of the country.
“Even grocery stores that don’t have a delivery

service will often deliver grocery bags out to the
car for those who can drive up,” Goyer says.
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SUPPORT
The Agency on Aging and other local groups
often have lists of services, many run by
volunteers, that can provide help with
household chores as simple as changing a
light bulb or doing the laundry.
Caregivers, too, should make sure they have

supports in place for themselves as well as
their loved ones.
SOCIAL NETWORK
Isolation and loneliness are health threats
that should not be taken lightly, Goyer says.
Faith-based organizations often have

networks of people who can stop by and
say hello every so often. Goyer says it’s also
worth looking into national programs like
the Foster Grandparent Program, which
pairs seniors with younger people, and
also the Senior Companion Program and
the Senior Corps volunteer program. All
are administered by the Corporation for
National and Community Service, the same
organization that runs the Americorps
volunteer program, and can be found at
www.nationalservice.gov.
Many communities have started a Village

to Village Network , where people can pool
resources to get things done more efficiently;
for example, someone who can drive might
deliver groceries to a neighbor in exchange
for a cooked meal.
“Sometimes it takes some creative thinking

to figure out all the pieces of the puzzle,”
Goyer says.
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DROPBOX SEEKING TO
RAISE $500 MILLION IN
STOCK MARKET DEBUT
One of the world’s largest online services for

backing up documents, photos and other
video is opening its files in an initial public
offering of stock.
Dropbox is hoping to raise $500 million in an

IPO that comes 11 years after it started in San
Francisco. The company confidentially filed for
its IPO in October, but the information didn’t
become publicly available until last Friday (23).
The filing reveals Dropbox has lost more than $1

billion since its inception. That includes a loss of
$112 million on revenue of $1.1 billion last year.
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Dropbox boasts about 500 million registered
users, but most of them don’t pay for its service.
Only 11 million users pay for premium version of
Dropbox’s service, a figure that the company is
aggressively trying to increase.
That won’t be easy, given the fierce competition

it’s facing. Its rivals in online file storage include
three of the world’s most powerful companies
— Google, Microsoft and Amazon. A smaller
competitor, Box Inc., went public at $14 per share
two years ago and the stock shot to $23.23 in its
first day of trading. It closed Friday at $23.32.
Dropbox hasn’t yet disclosed how much of its

stock will be sold in the IPO, nor the price for
each share. That will occur during the next few
weeks as its bankers gauge investor demand.
The IPO is likely to attract a lot of attention
because Dropbox’s service is so widely used.
The stock will trade on the Nasdaq exchange.

Image: Eric Thayer
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Image: Sean Gallup
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THE END OF SOCIAL MEDIA
For some, the end of social media can’t come
quick enough. At the end of last year, Vanity
Fair published an article outlining exactly why
they are happy about the possible demise of
social media as we know it. The article claims
that even those who were involved in the very
early stages of Facebook regret its success,
referring to the site as a monster they have
created. This ..
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USERS ON THE DECLINE
The possible end of Facebook has been a hot
topic so far in 2018, with Recode, CNN Tech,
The New York Times, Forbes, The Guardian
and more all engaging in the debate. The
debate was sparked as news broke that for
the first time ever, the number of daily users
on Facebook in the US and Canada had
declined. In the 3rd quarter of 2017 there were
185 million daily active users, which dropped to
184 million by the 4th quarter. With each user
bringing in $26.76 of revenue for Facebook last
year, a drop like this is significant for the social
media platform.
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BAD PRESS IN 2016 2016 press certainly taught the social media site
Exactly what is causing the decline in users a valuable lesson.
has not been confirmed, however, there are
certainly a number of factors at play. In 2016 MARK ZUCKERBERG SHOCKS THE
Facebook accused of being used in an attempt ONLINE WORLD
to try to sway the presidential election, causing Perhaps as a direct result of being accused
considerable backlash for the social media of spreading fake news, Facebook recently
platform. Facebook was accused of enabling the announced that some big changes will be
spread of fake news and allowing this hacking to coming to Facebook. Zuckerberg announced
take place. Facebook wants to focus on “meaningful
Mark Zuckerberg announced at the start of the interactions” suggesting the posts you will
year that one of his goals was to fix Facebook’s see first are those from a friend or relative.
many problems, and in November, the company They are introducing a new algorithm that
claimed it is “investing so much in security will promote more personal content and less
that will impact [their] profitability.” They are news. Posts you see will be influenced by your
doubling the number of people at the company connections and activity on Facebook as well as
who work on safety to 20,000. This incident in by comments, likes, and reactions. When making
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Image: Photo_Grapher
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this announcement, shares were not mentioned,
suggesting these will be less important.
A BRAND NEW NEWS FEED

FOR BUSINESSES
Facebook has not confirmed the rumors, but
as a result of this announcement, some are
speculating that Facebook is creating a separate
newsfeed just for businesses and sponsored
posts sparked. Facebook experimented with
this in six small countries. They removed any
posts from professional publishers and were met
with outrage. In Guatemala, some claimed their
readership halved overnight as a result of their
content no longer being featured on the main
social feed.
NEW MARKETING STRATEGIES

Exactly what this will mean for businesses who
utilize Facebook, is unclear. It could mean more
businesses use Twitter and LinkedIn, or it could
see more businesses owners making use of
personal profiles again. If it does happen, it will
teach businesses not invest all their efforts in
one place because, as we saw with Vine, social
media sites will not be around forever.
It is likely influencers will benefit from the

change. This is because, they are people
first and content marketers second and so
Facebook is unlikely to treat them in the same
way it does businesses. Companies such as
Daniel Wellington and GymShark have been
using influencers to promote their products
for years, and other companies could also
start following suit. They could be looking
for influencers in their niche to promote their
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products when their company’s Facebook
pages start losing their viewers.
In a quote featured in an article by The New

York Times on the topic, Jonah Peretti, the
chief executive of BuzzFeed, claims “Google
and Facebook are taking the vast majority of
ad revenue, and paying content creators far
too little for the value they deliver to users”.
This could suggest as Facebook benefits so
much from paid content on their platform, they
might not make the rumored changes and risk
companies no longer placing sponsored content
on other platforms.
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HOW OTHER COMPANIES ARE
RESPONDING TO THE
RUMORED CHANGES
In response to the possible changes, BuzzFeed
has already created a news app, urging people
download, realizing Facebook users will start
looking elsewhere for news. Facebook had
become powerful as a source of news but all this
could change. According to a recent survey
from the Pew Research Centre, “nearly half of
American adults get at least some of their news
from Facebook.”
While some companies are racing to offer

customers what Facebook no longer will, it
is likely that Instagram will instead echo the
changes Facebook could be making. This is
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because, this is not the first time Facebook
has made changes to its algorithms as they
stopped the chronological order of the news
feed and decided to promote “instant articles”,
videos, Facebook groups and live videos in
recent years. All these changes were also made
on Instagram shortly after. However, now CEO
Mark Zuckerberg is proposing new changes
including showing fewer viral videos to
reduce time spent on Facebook by roughly
50 million hours every day. These tweaks have
already resulted in a 5% drop in users and less
viral videos are being shown on the News Feed.
Will Instagram also echo this new change?
SNAPCHAT IS ALSO ON THE DECLINE

While Facebook can still be considered the most
dominator of the social media platforms, other
sites could be ready to take over. However, some
other sites are equally threatened by demise,
and Snapchat, in particular, is going dangerously
downhill. When Instagram introduced their own
stories, Snapchat experienced a striking decline.
There has been a 15-40% drop in Snapchat
Stories views as well as a broad decline in
usage generally. Instagram has 300 million daily
active users, double Snapchat’s, and brands and
influencers have large followings on Instagram.
Snapchat’s value dropped by $1.3 billion

this month, thanks to Kylie Jenner. The
Kardashian tweeted “sooo does anyone else
not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me...
ugh this is so sad”, a seemingly harmless tweet
that received 300,000 likes and nearly 64,000
comments and caused Snapchat’s shares to go
into decline. This came just weeks after the app’s
new radical redesign was met with backlash.
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Image: Sean Gallup
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Twitter, promoted as a messaging and news
platform, not specifically for socializing, is still
on the rise with 330 million users monthly.
However, according to statista.com, it is not
able to compete with Instagram which has
almost 880 million users monthly, only 6 million
more than Tumblr.
THE FUTURE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

In 2014, The Guardian predicted that by 2017
Facebook would have been abandoned by
the majority of users, however, it continued
to increase its user base year on year. They
claimed 80% of users would be lost and many
agreed. However, as their demise also seemed
so probably in 2014, perhaps we won’t see
the demise of Facebook anytime soon. If
these changes do happen they will take
some getting used to and will certainly
change how and why users go on Facebook,
but they do not necessarily mean the end of
Facebook altogether.
In fact, Mark Zuckerberg claims decline in

usage is a good thing. Yes, really! According
to the CEO, time spent on Facebook declined
by about 50 million hours per day in last year’s
fourth quarter but he claimed “helping people
connect is more important than maximizing
the time they spend on Facebook”. Zuckerberg
talks about making the site better for society
and preventing Facebook affecting users’ well-
being. While the changes will hurt the company
initially, he claims they are creating a better
Facebook that users will care more about.
by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan
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NEW SAMSUNG PHONE:
NICER CAMERA, STATIC
DESIGN, HIGHER PRICE
Samsung unveiled new smartphones with

largely unchanged designs and incremental
improvements such as a better camera —
accompanied by a second annual price increase
for many customers.
The static design of the new Galaxy S9

underscores both the slowing pace of
smartphone innovation and the extent to which
other manufacturers, particularly Apple, have
caught up with Samsung features that once
stood out. That includes everything from edge-
to-edge screens to facial recognition to a water-
resistant body.
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The new phone’s biggest selling point is
a collection of minor improvements to its
camera, which is already among the best in
the smartphone business. The S9 promises
even better low-light shots, while offering a
video mode that appears to freeze fast-moving
objects, matching a feature in some Sony
phones. The S9 can automatically detect when
there’s high-speed motion to record, such as
a cork popping off a bottle of champagne. A
fifth of a second of video gets stretched out
into six seconds.
While single features like this aren’t likely to

drive buying decisions, the slow-motion effect
could be “the kind of thing that will get a lot of
attention,” said Bob O’Donnell of the research
firm Technalysis.
For the first time in a major phone, the S9

will let you change the camera’s aperture to
let in more light, making for better images in
dark settings.
But analyst Carolina Milanesi of Creative

Strategies warns that despite the
improvements, the new camera is
competing with already good cameras in
earlier Samsung phones.
Nonetheless, you may have to pay more,

though nothing quite at the level of last year’s
$100 price hikes for the Galaxy S8. In the U.S.,
Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are raising prices
from what the S8 cost at launch — to nearly
$800 for the regular-size S9 and more than
$900 for the larger S9 Plus. As people hold
onto phones longer before upgrading, price
hikes let manufacturers and carriers make up
for lost revenue.
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iPhone X next to Galaxy S9 Plus
Samsung’s new Galaxy S9
phone promises better pictures
Bixby virtual assistant offers
instant translations of signs
Samsung’s Galaxy S9 Plus (left)
and the back of a regular-size S9
Feature for creating personal
emojis to share
Bixby virtual assistant offers
calorie information on food
Image: Richard Drew

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Some of the increases will be offset with
promotions. And T-Mobile will cut prices from
last year’s models. You can also buy unlocked
versions more cheaply directly from Samsung
— $720 for the S9 and $840 for the S9 Plus —
though most people in the U.S. buy through
their carriers.
The new phones were unveiled Sunday in

Barcelona, Spain, and will be available March 16.
Advance orders begin this Friday.
Here are some additional things to know:
UNCHANGED
The S9 features the same screen, same virtual
home button and same battery capacity as the
S8. Samsung did move the fingerprint sensor on
the back to reduce smears on the camera lens.
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A SECOND LENS VISUAL ASSISTANT
The camera on the Plus model now has a second Samsung’s Bixby digital assistant mimics a
lens with twice the magnification, a feature similar Google feature that pulls up information
already available in Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 and on landmarks or other items you’ve just
some iPhones. This means sharper close-ups. photographed. New Bixby capabilities let it
instantly translate signs (point the camera, and
FUN WITH SELFIES the phone replaces the sign’s text in a matching
color and font) and provide nutritional info for
Snap a selfie, and Samsung’s software will turn
that restaurant meal you’re splurging on.
that into an emoji version of you for sharing. It’s
usually a static image, though you can produce
an animated version — much like the iPhone X’s
Animoji feature.
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Image: Stephan Savoia
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STORES MAKE
PUSH IN SCAN
AND GO TECH,
HOPE SHOPPERS
ADOPT IT
Shoppers at self-checkout lanes scanning all

their groceries after they’re done shopping? Old
school. More stores are letting customer tally
their choices with a phone app or store device as
they roam the aisles.
For customers, scanning as they go can be faster

and make it simpler to keep track of spending.
For stores, the big expansion of this technology
coming this year costs less than installing more
self-checkouts.
Like many changes in retail, the expansion of

scan-and-go comes from retailers trying to make
store shopping more convenient and hang on to
customers used to Amazon, which just opened
a cashier-less store in Seattle. And like other
automation technologies, it shifts more of the
work to shoppers while freeing up employees
for higher-value tasks. That’s especially critical as
stores look for ways to make their workers more
efficient as they wrestle with rising wages.
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The convenience of scanning while she shops
is what Kari Malinak likes. She just started
using the technology at a Walmart in Fort
Worth, Texas.
“I’m a persnickety shopper,” Malinak said. “I can’t

stand it when they bag my produce. It gets
all bruised. I like to have control. And I like the
quick and easy aspect.” She says she also likes
the idea of having a running total of spending as
she shops.
The technology, while slightly different from

chain to chain, allows shoppers at stores like
Kroger and B.J.’s Wholesale Club to scan UPC
codes on items as they shop. It can be used
for lots of products beyond just groceries, and
people change their minds about something,
they can delete items and change quantities
before they check out.
Some stores allow payment directly from the

phone, with a greeter then checking over the
digital receipt, while others require shoppers to
go to a self-checkout lane or a kiosk to finalize
their purchases.
A big push is coming this year from big chains:

Kroger Co., the nation’s largest traditional
grocery chain, is adding the scan-and-go
technology to 400 stores. Walmart is testing
the service in 120 stores, while all its Sam’s Club
stores, which number around 600, have it. B.J.’s
Wholesale Club has launched the service in a
handful of stores and plans to add it to about
100 clubs this year.
One reason is that stores are investing less in

their self-checkout lanes and opting for scan-
and-go technology that’s less expensive because
it doesn’t need as much special hardware — just
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Image: Stephan Savoia
85
an app or the scanners, says Jason Goldberg,
senior vice president of commerce and content
practice at consulting group SapientRazorfish.
But while some customers feel comfortable

scanning while shopping, plenty of others don’t.
“It’s a huge barrier for most retailers to get

a consumer to download their app,” says
Goldberg. He said stores also need to work
on letting shoppers pay with their phones, so
customers don’t have to go to a kiosk to finalize
their purchases.
Most executives wouldn’t say what percent of

their transactions come from the service. But
Dusty Lutz of retail technology company NCR
Corp., which works with major grocery clients,
says scan-and-go mobile shopping accounts for
5 to 15 percent of customer transactions, based
on an analysis of 40 retailers.
Walmart — which tested scan-and-go in a

few stores in 2013 but ended the trial because
shoppers found the technology too clunky — says
the improved service is now the most preferred
checkout method among those who tested it.
Sam’s Club says 80 percent of its members who
use it use it again within 90 days and its scan & go
transactions have doubled this year.
Some stores are enticing shoppers to spend

more by pinging them with coupons while they
shop with the phone. Executives from B.J.’s and
NCR say shoppers are actually throwing more in
their cart with this new technology.
Still, not everything can be scanned. At BJ’s

clubs, jewelry and gift cards can’t be scanned
but can be purchased at a pay station. Stores
also have to be careful about theft. At Walmart,
there’s an honor code when shoppers scan
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the barcode on the produce and enter in the
weight. But the company says some purchases
are randomly checked on their way through the
express lane.
And the technology the big chains are using

isn’t as effortless as the sensors and automatic
payment at Amazon’s cashier-less stores. There,
shoppers enter by scanning their phones. The
store technology itself keeps track of what they
pick up and charges them after they leave.
It uses computer vision, machine learning
algorithms and sensors to analyze what people
are grabbing.
Amazon’s store isn’t without employees — there

are workers making food, stocking shelves and
helping customers. And grocery executives say
the scan-and-go services won’t eliminate jobs —
rather, some cashiers will move to other parts of
the store, like new online pickup stations.
“I don’t see the death of the cashier,” said NCR’s

Lutz. “They will be doing things that provide
more service to the shopper.”
Stores declined to say whether their ultimate

goal was to replicate Amazon’s Go technology,
saying the plan is to keep investing in the latest
technology and improve customers’ experience.
“We’re trying to make our trips more

convenient,” said Chris Baldwin, CEO of BJ’s.
And for shoppers who find it most convenient

to go the traditional route with a cashier
scanning their purchases? “Our goal is to provide
members with a variety of options so they can
check out however they prefer,” said Carrie
McKnight, a Sam’s Club spokeswoman.
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CALIFORNIA OKS
AUTONOMOUS
CAR TESTING
WITHOUT
BACKUP DRIVERS
Driverless cars will be tested in California

for the first time without a person behind a
steering wheel under new rules that state
regulators approved Monday for the fast-
developing technology.
The regulations are a major step toward getting

autonomous vehicles to dealerships and onto
the streets of California, where companies such
as Tesla and Waymo are leading the way on the
technology. Until now, driverless cars could
only be tested on public roads in the state if a
person could take the wheel in an emergency.
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“I think this is a move that had to happen for
California to stay competitive in this field,” said
Nidhi Kalra, a Rand Corp. senior scientist who
has been studying the issue for a decade.
Although the technology is being developed

in California, companies such as Waymo have
already been testing in other states such as
neighboring Arizona because requiring a
human driver limits the kind of car that can be
tested, she said.
“You can’t test what true, full autonomy looks

like” unless there’s no driver at all, Kalra said.
“To be able to test it right in your backyard is a
really big deal.”
But the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog

slammed the new rules, claiming autonomous
cars have not yet been proven safe enough to
be deployed without a human backup driver.
“It will be just like playing a video game, except

lives will be at stake,” said John Simpson, the
group’s privacy and technology project director.
Fifty companies already have permits to test

on public roads and highways in California, a
prime proving ground given its size as the
most populous state, its clout as the nation’s
biggest car market and its longtime role as a
cultural trendsetter.
The vehicles will no longer need to have drivers

inside during tests, but people will still be in
charge. Under the regulations, driverless cars
being tested on public roads must have a remote
operator monitoring at all times, ready to take
over as needed. The remote operator must also
be able to communicate with police as well as any
passengers in the event of an accident.
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Manufacturers must provide the DMV a law
enforcement interaction plan as one of the
requirements to get approved for a permit.
Car makers can submit applications starting

March 2 and the first permits will be issued
when the regulations go into effect April 2.
The rules, written by California’s Department

of Motor Vehicles and approved by the state’s
Office of Administrative Law, also create
the framework under which consumers can
eventually buy driverless cars.
Department of Motor Vehicles Director Jean

Shiomoto said it’s a big boost for regulations
in the works for years and that “safety is our
top concern.”
Major automakers like Mercedes, BMW, Ford,

Nissan and Volvo have all said it will likely be
at least 2020 before their driverless vehicles
are available, and even then, they could be
confined to ride-hailing fleets and other
shared applications.
Tesla Inc. said last year that the cars it’s making
have the hardware they need for full self-driving.
The company is still testing the software and
won’t make it available to owners without
regulatory approval.
Industry leader Waymo, Google’s self-driving car

spinoff, is not commenting on its rollout schedule.
The California regulations do not include testing

and deployment of autonomous trucks and
other commercial vehicles.
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FORD AND MIAMI
TO FORM TEST
BED FOR SELF-
DRIVING CARS
Ford Motor Co. is making Miami-Dade County its

new test bed for self-driving vehicles.
The automaker and its partners — Domino’s

Pizza, ride-hailing company Lyft and delivery
company Postmates — are starting pilot
programs to see how consumers react to
autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles.
Self-driving startup and Ford partner Argo AI
already has a fleet of cars in the area making
the highly detailed maps that are necessary for
self-driving. Ford also will establish its first-ever
autonomous vehicle terminal in Miami, where it
will learn how to service and deploy its test fleet.
More services will likely be introduced as the

partnership goes on, including Chariot, an app-
based shuttle service owned by Ford. It’s all part
of Ford’s effort to find viable business models for
fully autonomous vehicles and get them on the
road by 2021.
“This is, I think, the future of any automotive

company or mobility company. If a majority
of the world’s population is going to be living
97
in cities, we need to understand how to move
those people around,” said John Kwant, Ford’s
vice president of city solutions, who inked the
deal with Miami-Dade.
Ford isn’t the first automaker to run test fleets

of autonomous vehicles. General Motors
Co. will start testing autonomous vehicles in
New York City this year, while Nissan Motor
Co. is launching an autonomous taxi service
in Yokohama, Japan, next week. Technology
companies like Waymo — a division of Google
— are also testing self-driving vehicles on public
roads in Phoenix, San Francisco and Singapore,
among other cities.
But the partnership with a specific metropolitan

is less common. Both sides envision a deep
relationship where Ford can help Miami-Dade
solve specific issues, like how to most efficiently
move people from its suburbs to its downtown
monorail, and Miami-Dade can offer solutions
like dedicated lanes for automated vehicles
or infrastructure projects like advanced traffic
lights that can send signals to connected cars.
“We want to be on the forefront of this because

we want to give our people choices,” said Carlos
Gimenez, the mayor of Miami-Dade County,
which is home to 34 cities and 2.7 million people.
Sherif Marakby, Ford’s vice president of

autonomous vehicles and electrification, says
the company also intends to work closely
with local businesses. The company wants to
learn, for example, how a florist might use an
autonomous delivery vehicle.
“Autonomous vehicle technology is interesting,

but it’s a whole lot more interesting with a viable
business model,” he said.
98
Image: Ryan Merrill
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Image: Ryan Merrill
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The city of Miami is the fifth-most congested
in the U.S., according to a recent traffic study
by the consulting firm Inrix. After more than a
century of selling people vehicles, Kwant says
Ford now wants to figure out ways to move
people more efficiently in order to cut down on
that time in traffic.
Sam Abuelsamid, a senior research analyst with

the consulting firm Navigant Research, says Ford
and others must figure out how to make money
on self-driving cars.
“If this does take off, if people do adopt

automated vehicles and use them for ride-
hailing, that’s going to result in a decline in retail
vehicle sales,” Abuelsamid said. “They need to
figure out, if we’re going to have a decline in the
number of vehicles we sell to consumers, how
do we keep our business stable?”
Kwant says the testing will also help Ford

determine what its future self-driving
vehicles need to look like and how they
must perform.
“If you don’t have steering wheels, how do you

begin to use that package space? How do you
begin to look different in terms of carrying more
people?” he said.
Ford won’t say how many vehicles it will have on

the road in Miami-Dade, but says it will be Ford’s
largest test bed for autonomous vehicles by the
end of this year.
All of the vehicles will have backup safety

drivers. Domino’s experimental vehicles aren’t
even technically autonomous; they’re equipped
to be, but for now they have actual drivers.
The windows are blacked out so customers
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can experience how to get pizza from the car
without dealing with a person.
Miami will give Ford new challenges. Previously,

it tested Domino’s cars in suburban Michigan,
where parking wasn’t an issue. But in busy
Miami Beach, the cars will have to figure out
where they can go to allow apartment-dwellers
to safely retrieve their pizzas. An autonomous
delivery vehicle from Postmates might have
to switch between Spanish and English
commands when it picks up a meal and delivers
it to a customer. Self-driving Lyft vehicles will
be tasked with mapping out the best places
to wait for customers without causing more
traffic headaches.
Kwant says Ford will announce more city

partnerships as this year progresses. But
Miami-Dade was a natural, since it has good
weather, lots of different urban and suburban
terrain and support from Gimenez and other
government leaders.
Gimenez, who began talking to Ford in 2017

at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las
Vegas, says he’s not worried about consumer
acceptance of self-driving cars. He thinks his
community will embrace them as companies
prove that shared autonomous vehicles can be
cheaper and safer than regular ones.
Gimenez says self-driving vehicles also can

potentially improve traffic flow without
significant new investments in roadways. They
can travel more closely together, for example,
because they’re always watching the car in front
of them and can brake automatically.
“That’s why I’m really high on this technology,”

he said.
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Image: Ryan Merrill
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#01 – Snapchat
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Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
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#04 – 1Doc: Word Processor for Writer

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105
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Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
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107
Trailer
Movies
&
108
TV Shows
Wonder
Based on the New York Times bestseller,

Wonder tells the inspiring story of August
Pullman. Born with facial differences that have,
up until now, prevented him from attending
a mainstream school, Auggie becomes the
most unlikely of heroes when he enters the
local fifth grade. While his family, his new
classmates, and the larger community struggle
to find their compassion and acceptance,
Auggie’s extraordinary journey will unite them
and prove that you can’t blend in when you
were born to stand out.
FIVE FACTS:
1. This is the second movie based off a novel
by Stephen Chbosky directed by Stephen Chbosky. The first was
Genre: Drama The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).
Released: 2017
Price: $19.99 2. The bicycle that August is riding in the
film is the same bicycle that Elliot is seen
riding in the movie E.T.
408 Ratings
3. This is the first time that Julia Roberts has
worked with Owen Wilson.
4. R.J. Palacio got the inspiration to write the
book after taking her son out for ice cream,
where they saw a child with Treacher Collins
Syndrome, and her son cried at the sight of
this boy. This is used in a scene in the film,
where Jack Will’s mother is reminding him why
it’s important to make Auggie feel welcome.
5. Jacob Tremblay and his family went to the
Children’s Craniofacial Association retreat,
where he got to meet and befriend children
with Treacher Collins Syndrome, the same
Rotten Tomatoes syndrome that Auggie has.
85 %
109
Wonder clip || Precepts || #SocialNews.XYZ
110
111
Lady Bird
Set in Sacramento in 2002, Christine “Lady

Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights
against but is exactly like her wildly loving,
deeply opinionated and strong-willed
mother (Laurie Metcalf ). Lady Bird is an
affecting look at the relationships that
shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the
unmatched beauty of a place called home.
FIVE FACTS:
1. This is Greta Gerwig’s solo feature
directorial debut.
2. The working titles for the film was
“Mothers and Daughters.”
3. The film takes place from 2002 to 2003, the by Greta Gerwig
time when Greta Gerwig herself graduated Genre: Comedy
Released: 2017
from St. Francis Catholic High School in her Price: $14.99
hometown of Sacramento, California.
4. Saoirse Ronan drew some inspiration for
143 Ratings
her American high school scenes from her
memories of watching the TV show Saved by
the Bell (1989) as a young girl.
5. Due to speculation from many fans,
Timothée Chalamet, who played Kyle, made
it clear on an appearance on The Tonight
Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that he is
“nothing like his character” in Lady Bird.
Rotten Tomatoes
99 %
112
Trailer
113
114
Coffee Shop
115
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Released: Feb 9, 2018
14 Songs
Price: $9.99
51 Ratings
Kendrick Lamar, SZA
“All The Stars”
116
Music
Black Panther The
Album Music From
And Inspired By
Kendrick Lamar,
The Weeknd, SZA
Delivering music inspired by the film, Kendrick

Lamar keeps the album aligned with Black
Panther’s concept. With tracks that speak from
the opposing perspective of its namesake,
the super-powered monarch T’Challa and his
antagonist, the vengeful revolutionary merc
Erik Killmonger. Both of these viewpoints
guide the album, with several motifs and
developments seeded throughout.
FIVE FACTS:
1. Curated by Kendrick Lamar, the
album features a variety of collaborators
including fellow artists signed to Top
Dawg Entertainment.
2. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler chose
Lamar for the project because his “artistic
themes align with those we explore in the film.”
3. Lamar was initially only going to work
on a few songs for the film, but after he
watched the majority of the film, he decided
to create the entire album.
4. On February 9, 2018, the soundtrack debuted
at number one on the US Billboard 200.
5. Lamar’s involvement with the album was
teased as an Easter egg in his music video
for his single ‘Love’ in late December 2017.
117
The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar
“Pray For Me”
118
119
Darlin’ Oh Darlin’
The Hunts
Recorded by world-class Peter Katis (The

National, Jonsi, Interpol), The Hunts latest
album is an exploration of nostalgic
vibes paired with incredible harmonies
that demonstrate a fierce commitment
to relationships.
FIVE FACTS:
1. All seven members of the band are
Genre: Alternative Folk
siblings from Chesapeake, Virginia. All of Released: Feb 20, 2018
their names start with a J. 11 Songs
Price: $9.99
2. The band has toured the worldwide for
over ten years.
23 Ratings
3. Their album We Were Young was
produced by 13-time Grammy nominee
Mark Carman at the legendary recording
studio The Tracking Room in Nashville.
4. The Hunts have a deep love for music
education and missions work, hosting a
music camp for children and teens every
summer in their hometown.
5. The band was selected for Taco Bell’s 2013
“Feed the Beat” roster.
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“Make This Leap”
121
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“Oh Come All Ye Faithful”
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BOX OFFICE TOP 20:
‘BLACK PANTHER’
“Black Panther” scored $111.7 million at the

North American box office in its second week
according to final studio figures Monday,
putting Ryan Coogler’s Marvel sensation on a
trajectory that could ultimately land it among
the highest grossing films.
Disney again revised up the weekend

performance of “Black Panther,” after estimating
that it grossed $108 million on Sunday. The
strong second week sales pushed the film’s
cumulative domestic gross past $400 million
and its worldwide haul above $700 million.
“Black Panther” easily trounced new releases.

The Warner Bros.-New Line comedy “Game
Night,” starring Jason Bateman and Rachel
McAdams, debuted with $17 million. Alex
Garland’s sci-fi thriller “Annihilation,” starring
Natalie Portman, opened with $11.1 million on
about 2,000 screens.
Paramount earlier sold the international rights

(except in China) for “Annihilation” to Netflix
after disappointing reactions in test screenings.
125
Though the film received largely good reviews,
opening weekend audiences gave it a poor
“C” CinemaScore.
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters

Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution
studio, gross, number of theater locations,
average receipts per location, total gross and
number of weeks in release, as compiled Sunday
by comScore:
1. “Black Panther,” Disney, $111,658,835,

4,020 locations, $27,776 average,
$403,613,257, 2 Weeks.
2. “Game Night,” Warner Bros.,

$17,005,332, 3,488 locations,
$4,875 average, $17,005,332, 1 Week.
3. “Peter Rabbit,” Sony, $12,760,382,

$71,506,084, 3 Weeks.
4. “Annihilation,” Paramount, $11,071,584,

$11,071,584, 1 Week.
5. “Fifty Shades Freed,” Universal,

$7,147,285, 3,265 locations,
$2,189 average, $89,793,065, 3 Weeks.
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6. “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle,”
Sony, $5,650,497, 2,519 locations,
$2,243 average, $387,284,712, 10 Weeks.
7. “The 15:17 To Paris,” Warner Bros.,

$3,573,259, 2,752 locations,
$1,298 average, $32,231,011, 3 Weeks.
8. “The Greatest Showman,” 20th Century

Fox, $3,411,649, 1,601 locations,
$2,131 average, $160,778,519, 10 Weeks.
9. “Every Day,” Orion Distribution Company,

$3,016,149, 1,669 locations, $1,807
average, $3,016,149, 1 Week.
10. “MET Opera: La Boheme (2018),”

Fathom Events, $1,875,000,
900 locations, $2,083 average,
$1,875,000, 1 Week.
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11. “Early Man,” Lionsgate, $1,773,963,
2,494 locations, $711 average,
$6,853,385, 2 Weeks.
12. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing

Missouri,” Fox Searchlight,
$1,247,624, 691 locations, $1,806 average,
$50,152,203, 16 Weeks.
13. “The Post,” 20th Century Fox,

$1,240,961, 795 locations,
$1,561 average, $78,888,962, 10 Weeks.
14. “The Shape Of Water,” Fox

Searchlight, $1,180,255,
$55,366,099, 13 Weeks.
15. “Samson,” Pure Flix, $970,708,

1,140 locations, $851 average,
$3,743,204, 2 Weeks.
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16. “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,”
20th Century Fox, $962,619,
$56,329,223, 5 Weeks.
17. “Winchester,” Lionsgate, $929,450,

$23,735,224, 4 Weeks.
18. “Phantom Thread,” Focus Features,

$864,510, 651 locations,
$1,328 average, $19,016,604, 9 Weeks.
19. “Darkest Hour,” Focus Features,

$745,625, 795 locations,
$938 average, $54,465,467, 14 Weeks.
20. “Lady Bird,” A24, $669,640,

$47,301,770, 17 Weeks.
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast

Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics
are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney,
Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned
by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are
owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units
of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors
including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn;
Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by
AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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ED SHEERAN IS WORLD’S
BEST-SELLING RECORDING
ARTIST OF 2017
If you think there’s no escape from the songs of

Ed Sheeran, you may be right.
A global music industry group says the British

singer-songwriter is officially the best-selling
recording artist of 2017.
The International Federation of the

Phonographic Industry says Sheeran had the
world’s top-selling album last year with “Divide,”
as well as the best-selling single, “Shape of You.”
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135
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The group’s chief executive, Frances Moore, said
Monday that Sheeran’s success “is astonishing
and testament to his ability to write and perform
songs that connect with a truly global fan base.”
The IFPI’s Global Recording Artist of the Year

Award measures sales in both digital and
physical music formats.
The 2016 winner, Drake, came second in 2017.

Rounding out the top five were Taylor Swift,
Kendrick Lamar and Eminem.
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Image: Mike Corder
138
STATE OF THE ART:
MUSEUM TAKES
HI-TECH LOOK
AT VERMEER
This really is state of the art research.
Experts at the Mauritshuis museum in The

Hague are using the latest technology to take
a long, hard look at one of their most prized
paintings, Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a
Pearl Earring,” and they are inviting the public
in to watch.
For two weeks, experts are pointing a battery

of high-tech machines at the 17th-century
masterpiece of a young woman whose
enigmatic gaze has earned her the nickname of
the Dutch Mona Lisa.
The iconic painting was last studied in 1994

during a conservation project. In those days,
they took paint samples from the priceless work
to examine.
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Since then, technology has made such advances
that the museum says scanners and X-ray
machines that don’t even touch the surface of
the canvas can provide new insights into how
Vermeer painted the girl and the materials
he used.
The first machine on deck was an X-Ray

Fluorescent Spectrometry scanner that uses a
thin beam of X-rays to examine the distribution
of pigments below the surface of the painting.
“An XRF scan really shows what blobs of paint on

the pallet of Vermeer’s studio ended up where
exactly and in what intensity on this painting,”
said Prof. Joris Dik of the Delft University of
Technology that developed the scanner. “So it’s
a way of let’s say looking over the shoulders of
Vermeer and watching him paint the painting
and see him make choices.”
Museum Director Emilie Gordenker said that

data collected in the coming two weeks will
provide answers to many questions she has
about “the girl.”
“How did Vermeer actually build up the surface

of the painting? Where did he start? What’s
underneath that paint layer?” she said. “What kind
of paints did he use? Where did they come from?”
Perhaps most intriguingly of all, the information

gleaned by researchers working behind a
specially built transparent wall could be used
to establish just what the painting looked like
when Vermeer applied his finishing touches in
around 1665.
“You can imagine a really fabulous digital

reproduction,” Gordenker said. “Our best guess
of what she originally looked like.”
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Meantime, the museum director is looking
forward to getting new insights into the famous
painting as it undergoes what amounts to a full
body scan.
“In every space she looks different and now

she looks very vulnerable without her frame,”
Gordenker said. “She looks a little smaller.
It has a different character and you always
learn something from that. The more different
angles you can take, whether it’s research
or just display, the more you learn about
your collection.”
The exhibition in which visitors can watch the

researchers in action is called “The Girl in the
Spotlight.” It runs through March 11.
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JUSTICES LOOK
AT HOW OLDER
LAW APPLIES TO
INTERNET CLOUD
The Supreme Court explored what happens

when a decades-old law meets 21st
century technology.
The justices heard arguments in a dispute

between the Trump administration and
Microsoft Corp. over a warrant for emails stored
in the internet cloud outside the United States.
The Drug Enforcement Administration

wanted the emails as part of a drug trafficking
investigation. The agency obtained a warrant
under a 1986 law, but Microsoft refused to turn
over the emails because they are stored on
a company server in Dublin, Ireland, and the
warrant does not apply abroad.
The federal appeals court in New York agreed

with the company that the 1986 Stored
Communications Act does not apply outside the
United States.
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The arguments highlighted the difficulty that
judges face in trying to apply older laws to new
technological developments.
“I recognize we have a difficult statute here,”

Justice Anthony Kennedy said.
When the law was written, Justice Ruth Bader

Ginsburg said, “No one ever heard of clouds. This
kind of storage didn’t exist.”
Still, it seemed likely that the court would side

with the administration, which argues that
investigations have been hampered by the
appellate ruling.
Justice Department lawyer Michael Dreeben

argued that the focus should be on Microsoft’s
headquarters in Redmond, Washington. That’s
where a computer operator would retrieve the
emails and hand them over to federal authorities.
Joshua Rosenkranz, representing Microsoft,

wanted to talk about where the emails are kept.
“They are stored in Ireland. And the government

is asking us to go and fetch them from Ireland,”
Rosenkranz said.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the government

seemed to have the better of the argument
because “the statute focuses on disclosure.
And disclosure takes place in Washington, not
in Ireland.”
Ginsburg and other justices said it would be

better if Congress updated the law. Sen. Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah, who was in the courtroom this
week, is a sponsor of a bipartisan proposal that
has been introduced in Congress.
The legislation known as the Cloud Act has

the support of both the Trump administration
and Microsoft.
147
But lawyers on both sides said the court should
decide the case before it, not wait for Congress
to act.
Dreeben told the court that Microsoft voluntarily

moved the emails to a server in Ireland and
could just as easily retrieve them. He stressed
that the government had a warrant, “the gold
standard” for addressing privacy concerns.
“It’s not a case about privacy,” said Dreeben, who

is part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia
investigation team, but has occasionally argued
important cases at the Supreme Court.
Rosenkranz described how much physically

has to happen in Ireland when someone at
Microsoft headquarters issues a command to
retrieve emails from the Dublin server. Even after
the emails are found, the data “runs through
Ireland on hard wires and then over the Atlantic,”
Rosenkranz said.
“Does some person have to be there?”

Kennedy asked.
No, a robot handles the work in Ireland.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor jumped in. “I guess my

imagination is running wild,” Sotomayor said to
laughter. “Who tells the robot what to do?”
Addressing reporters in front of the court

following the arguments, Microsoft President
Brad Smith said the arguments reinforced his
view that Congress should act.
“Because, in fact, I think that what this case

makes clear, and what this morning has further
made clear, is that we need 21st century
laws to protect 21st century technology,”
Smith said.
148
Image: George Tolbert
149
150
Q&A: COMCAST
EXEC ON THE
FUTURE OF THE
CABLE BUNDLE
Faced with competition from the internet,

Comcast has turned its X1 TV set-top box
into something resembling a Roku or Apple
TV streaming player, complete with app-like
menus and a voice-activated remote. During the
Olympics, X1 merged both TV and online videos
to give viewers a one-stop experience.
Matt Strauss, executive vice president of

Comcast’s Xfinity services, spoke with Media
recently about the company’s Olympic
ambitions and the future of television.
Questions and answers have been edited for
clarity and length.
Image: Cindy Ord
151
Q: Why are you spending so much effort on an
event that lasts just two weeks?
A: The focus has been around how we push

the envelope to create experiences that are not
only great for the Olympics but also become
a sandbox for us to learn. This is just a great
opportunity to experiment.
Q: During the Olympics, Comcast has “virtual”

channels of streaming video, similar to music
playlists. Why is this needed when all the events
are already available on demand?
A: A lot of viewers like more of a lean-back

experience, which has been known as TV. In
some ways, if you think what a network is, it’s
just a playlist. Somebody is programming a
channel 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We have the technology to challenge the

paradigm of what it means to be a network.
Every sport now has a channel. Athletes can
have a channel. We can create channels
around biggest upsets or wildest crashes
or funniest moments. This is allowing us
to say, “You like snowboarding? There’s a
snowboarding channel.”
Q: Comcast offers a package of TV channels

delivered over the internet, similar to YouTube
TV and Sling TV. Why aren’t you selling this
outside your “footprint” — markets where
Comcast already offers regular TV services?
A: That’s a very crowded space. There are so

many opportunities to bundle services within
our footprint profitably that it’s a much bigger
priority than looking at a video-only service
out of footprint, which some seem to be
selling at a loss.
152
153
Q: If you’ve invested so much in X1 and
traditional cable TV, why offer an internet TV
package at all?
A: We’re creating a portfolio of products and

services with the goal of trying to get the right
product to the right customer at the right time
of their life. We know there are segments that
maybe are not heavy video viewers or they don’t
want to spend disposable income on video.
Q: Is the old-fashioned TV bundle on

its way out?
A: Video actually is a great value based on how

much is being consumed. What’s changed is
there are segments of this population who don’t
necessarily see a value in the bundle or have
access to other choices. That’s where we need
to ensure that we are continuing to challenge
ourselves and offering customers more choice
and flexibility.
Image: Joseph Moran

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155
3 SPACE STATION
ASTRONAUTS
RETURN TO EARTH
Image: Bill Ingalls

156
Three astronauts returned from the International
Space Station to the snowy, bitingly cold flat
lands of Central Asia, ending a 5 1/2-month
mission highlighted by robotic renovations,
schoolteacher pep talks and heavenly greetings
from Pope Francis.
The two Americans and one Russian landed

in a Soyuz capsule shortly after sunrise
Wednesday, local time, in Kazakhstan, where
the temperature was below freezing. Flight
controllers feared snow and freezing rain might
hamper recovery efforts, but NASA said the
weather wasn’t nearly as bad as had been feared
and the pickup teams got to where they needed
to be.
NASA’s Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei, and

Russia’s Alexander Misurkin emerged from
the capsule one by one, smiling, waving and
pumping their fists in the air as they were carried
to outdoor chairs. Medical staff wrapped them
in thick blankets, while taking their pulse and
making sure they were fine.
157
Image: Bill Ingalls
158
The astronauts checked out of the space station
just a few hours earlier, hugging the three men
remaining behind.
“We’re already missing you,” radioed station

commander Anton Shkaplerov as the capsule
backed away.
In handing over the skipper’s job to Shkaplerov,

Misurkin joked that at least he and his two
crewmates didn’t break anything and hopefully
accomplished some good science. They’d lived
on the space station since September.
Acaba is the first astronaut of Puerto Rican

heritage and a former schoolteacher. He teamed
up with another educator-astronaut, Ricky
Arnold, who’s launching in three weeks, to
perform the science lessons prepared by Christa
McAuliffe 32 years ago. She died in the shuttle
Challenger launch disaster.
During a series of spacewalks spanning months,

Acaba and Vande Hei helped replace the aging
mechanical hands of the station’s big robot arm.
And last fall, they had a chance to chat with
Pope Francis, discussing the beauty and fragility
of the home planet.
As is customary, NASA planned to hustle

Acaba and Vande Hei back to Houston, with
Misurkin heading to cosmonaut headquarters
at Star City, Russia.
A replacement crew, including former teacher

Arnold, will lift off from Kazakhstan on March
21 and bring the space station back up to a full
crew of six.
Online:
NASA
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MEANT TO BE
(FEAT. FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE)
BeBe Rexha
THE MIDDLE
Zedd, MaRen MoRRis & GRey
PERFECT
ed sheeRan
FINESSE (REMIX) [FEAT. CARDI B] - SINGLE

BRuno MaRs
HAVANA (FEAT. YOUNG THUG)

CaMila CaBello
YOU MAKE IT EASY

Jason aldean
SAY SOMETHING (FEAT. CHRIS STAPLETON)

Justin tiMBeRlake
LET YOU DOWN

nF
THUNDER
iMaGine dRaGons
LOVE LIES
khalid & noRMani
161
162
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
(ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)
VaRious aRtists
BY THE WAY, I FORGIVE YOU

BRandi CaRlile
ZOMBIES
(ORIGINAL TV MOVIE SOUNDTRACK)
VaRious aRtists
BLACK PANTHER (ORIGINAL SCORE)

ludwiG GoRansson
MAN OF THE WOODS

Justin tiMBeRlake
÷ (DELUXE)
ed sheeRan
EVOLVE
iMaGine dRaGons
FROM A ROOM: VOLUME 2

ChRis stapleton
NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MUSIC, VOL. 65

VaRious aRtists
BLACK PANTHER
THE ALBUM MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY
kendRiCk laMaR, the weeknd, sZa
163
164
BOSS
nCt u
PERFECT SYMPHONY
(WITH ANDREA BOCELLI)
ed sheeRan
HAVANA (FEAT. YOUNG THUG)

CaMila CaBello
LOVE LIES (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

khalid & noRMani
FINESSE (REMIX) [FEAT. CARDI B]

BRuno MaRs
PERFECT
ed sheeRan
MIC DROP (STEVE AOKI REMIX)

Bts
SAY SOMETHING
(FEAT. CHRIS STAPLETON) [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
Justin tiMBeRlake
MEANT TO BE
(FEAT. FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE)
BeBe Rexha
DESPACITO (FEAT. DADDY YANKEE)

luis Fonsi
165
166
KRIS JENNER’S LEGACY
keepinG up with the kaRdashians, season 14
LIVIN’ LA VILLA LOCA

the Real housewiVes oF atlanta, season 10
DON’T ASK DON’T TELL

the assassination oF Gianni VeRsaCe:
aMeRiCan CRiMe stoRy, season 2
ALL STARS SNATCH GAME

Rupaul’s dRaG RaCe all staRs, season 3 (unCensoRed)
HOUSE BY THE LAKE

THAT WAS WEIRD

the Real housewiVes oF BeVeRly hills, season 8
BELIEVING
when Calls the heaRt, season 5
EPISODE 23
shaRk tank, season 9
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE VOGUE

GREEN SEAS
Blue planet ii
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168
AGENT IN PLACE
MaRk GReaney
THE GREAT ALONE

kRistin hannah
FIFTY FIFTY
JaMes patteRson & CandiCe Fox
GENTLEMAN NINE
penelope waRd
THE WIFE BETWEEN US

GReeR hendRiCks & saRah pekkanen
NOBODY DOES IT BETTER,

MASTERS AND MERCENARIES, BOOK 15
lexi Blake
LOOK FOR ME
lisa GaRdneR
THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW

a. J. Finn
EMBRACE
staCey lynn
THE MARRIAGE LIE

kiMBeRly Belle
169
170
FOXCONN PLANT
COULD REDUCE
ROAD FUNDING
BY $90 MILLION
Funding for state road projects could be reduced

as much as $90 million by mid-2019 in order to pay
for roadwork related to the $10 billion Foxconn
Technology Group plant in southeast Wisconsin.
That’s the determination of the nonpartisan

Legislative Fiscal Bureau in a memo
sent to Democratic lawmakers that they
released Wednesday.
Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Gordon

Hintz says the memo shows that Republican Gov.
Scott Walker is prioritizing the Foxconn project
over repairing roads elsewhere in the state.
The reduction to pay for roads around the

massive Foxconn project is expected to leave
the state highway fund as much as $870 million
short of the $2.4 billion the state Department
of Transportation state was needed to maintain
road conditions for the next decade.
The Foxconn plant to make liquid-crystal display

screens is expected to employ up to 13,000 people.
171
172
AMAZON TO BUY
RING, MAKER OF
WI-FI--CONNECTED
DOORBELLS
Amazon is expanding its home-security business

by buying Ring, which makes Wi-Fi-connected
cameras and doorbells.
The deal comes months after the online retailer

started selling its own Wi-Fi-connected indoor
security cameras, which work with its voice-
assistant Alexa. The Ring acquisition helps
Amazon better compete with Google’s Nest,
which also makes cameras and doorbells.
173
Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. declined to say
how much it was paying for Ring or when the
deal will close. The news was first reported by
technology news site GeekWire.com.
Ring’s doorbells and cameras capture video that

can be streamed on smartphones and other
devices. The company promotes its gadgets as
a way to catch package thieves, a nuisance that
Amazon has been looking to remedy.
Last year, Amazon launched a service called

Amazon Key that lets those who buy a Wi-Fi-
connected lock to unlock their front doors so
packages could be left inside their home.
174
175
176
AIRBNB UNVEILS
NEW CATEGORY
OF RENTALS RATED
BY INSPECTORS
Airbnb is dispatching inspectors to rate

thousands of the properties listed on its home-
rental service in an effort to reassure travelers
they’re booking nice places to stay.
The Plus program, unveiled last week, is aimed at

winning over travelers who aren’t sure they can
trust the current rating system drawn from the
opinions posted by past guests. The misleading
pictures drawn by Airbnb’s rating system have
become a big enough problem to spawn a
website devoted to horror stories spanning from
an overcrowded, dirty “hippy commune ” in
Pasadena, California, to a Paris vacation ruined in
a moldy, bug-infested apartment.
“You realize over time that you do have to take

more responsibility for your platform, you have
to be hands on, you have to make judgments,”
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said in an interview.
Image: Eric Risberg
177
The hands-on touch built into the Plus program
comes 10 years after Chesky and his former
roommate started Airbnb in a San Francisco
apartment in hopes of bringing in more money
to pay their own rent.
Airbnb’s internal surveys have found nearly

three-fourths of the travelers on its service
are willing to pay more for inspector-certified
properties, allowing homeowners and
apartment dwellers to quickly recoup a $149 fee
to participate in Plus.
Human inspectors will review properties based

on a 100-point checklist covering everything
from the speed of the Wi-Fi to the comfort of the
bedding. Properties that fail can still be part of
Airbnb’s regular listings; the company will also
offer advice on improvements to qualify.
The program will initially cover about 2,000

properties in 13 cities — Austin, Texas;
Barcelona, Spain; Cape Town, South Africa;
Chicago; Los Angeles; London; Melbourne,
Australia; Milan; Rome; San Francisco;
Shanghai, Sydney and Toronto. That’s a small
fraction of the roughly 4.5 million properties
listed on Airbnb in 81,000 cities worldwide. By
the end of the year, Chesky foresees verifying
75,000 homes in 50 cities.
Airbnb is shaking things up at a time its growth

has been slowing, a trend the company would
like to reverse before it sells its stock in an initial
public offering expected within the next two
years. Despite its popularity, Airbnb remains
unprofitable, with a loss of $75 million on
revenue of nearly $2.6 billion last year, according
to financial statements reviewed by The Wall
Street Journal.
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Image: Eric Risberg
During a presentation in San Francisco, Chesky

announced other steps designed to make
Airbnb more like a traditional hospitality
company instead of an industry renegade that
has siphoned business away from major hotels.
Frequent travelers will quality for discounts and
other perks. The company also is adding other
rental categories, including bed-and-breakfast
inns and boutique hotels.
A major hotel industry group slammed Airbnb’s

expansion as a sham.
“Airbnb’s latest scheme is just further proof

the company is trying to play in the hoteling
space while evading industry regulations,”
said Troy Flanagan of the American Hotel
& Lodging Association. “If Airbnb wants to
enter the hoteling business, then it needs to
be regulated, taxed and subject to the same
safety compliances.”
Airbnb’s success since its inception a decade ago

has drawn fire from city officials upset about
lost revenue from hotel taxes. It has also stirred
protests from long-time renters of homes that
are being converted into short-term places to
stay instead. Airbnb’s critics contend the latter
trend has been making it even more difficult to
find a place to live in cities such as San Francisco,
where housing is already scarce and expensive.
“There are things that we have done that have

had negative impacts on cities and we need
to confront that,” Chesky conceded. But he
said he still believes communities have mostly
benefited from Airbnb’s existence because it has
helped people stay in their homes, thanks to the
additional money brought in from renting some
of the space whenever they want.
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This is a stone.

When choosing MINDFIELD DIGITAL™ and our DBMD™

We follow an Application Development Cycle where every

Our team is constantly looking for promising partners in

ANATOMY OF A NEW SERVICES,

LESS IS MORE AS COMPANIES EXPLORE SHOPPING BY VOICE 28

HYPERLOOP TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES, NOACA, ANNOUNCE PARTNERS... 32

DROPBOX SEEKING TO RAISE $500 MILLION IN STOCK MARKET DEBUT 50

NEW SAMSUNG PHONE: NICER CAMERA, STATIC DESIGN, HIGHER PRICE 72

STORES MAKE PUSH IN SCAN AND GO TECH, HOPE SHOPPERS ADOPT IT 82

CALIFORNIA OKS AUTONOMOUS CAR TESTING WITHOUT BACKUP DRIVERS 90

FORD AND MIAMI TO FORM TEST BED FOR SELF-DRIVING CARS 96

BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘BLACK PANTHER’ 124

ED SHEERAN IS WORLD’S BEST-SELLING RECORDING ARTIST OF 2017 134

JUSTICES LOOK AT HOW OLDER LAW APPLIES TO INTERNET CLOUD 144

Q&A: COMCAST EXEC ON THE FUTURE OF THE CABLE BUNDLE 150

3 SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS RETURN TO EARTH 156

FOXCONN PLANT COULD REDUCE ROAD FUNDING BY $90 MILLION 170

AMAZON TO BUY RING, MAKER OF WI-FI--CONNECTED DOORBELLS 172

AIRBNB UNVEILS NEW CATEGORY OF RENTALS RATED BY INSPECTORS 176

TOP 10 APPS 104

Microsoft has an eye on its international

The justices will hear arguments over whether

The case turns on a law written in 1986,

A federal appeals court agreed with Microsoft

But the larger context is the technology sector’s

The concerns stem in part from the 2013 leak

Smith recalled a conversation in Berlin in which

The Trump administration said it’s wrong to look

The problem is even more complex for

Thirty-five states on the government’s side say a

A federal judge in New York signed the warrant

Microsoft turned over information about

For as much interest as the case has drawn — 30

Smith said Microsoft agrees that “law

The Cloud Act says “the location of data

Privacy experts say the legislation does not do

A decision in US vs Microsoft, 17-2, is expected

Bitcoins can buy you a TAG Heuer watch, a cross-

Purchases with bitcoin and other digital

And the complex workings behind the

Buying with bitcoin can be as easy as tapping

IN BUSINESS WITH BITCOIN

Rubinchuk and his father, who goes by “Mike

“It’s just a way to reach customers we normally

Buying with bitcoin can be as easy as tapping

The cars and truck on the lot near Albany are

In 2011, he read about a 2-year-old currency

When he started, a single bitcoin was worth

The 32-year-old Virginia resident sees his bitcoin

“At this point it’s like, why not?” Cypert said. “I

Then they had to agree on what that equaled

Cypert also paid a network fee of about $3.50,

Then Rubinchuk watched bitcoin’s value go up

But the digital currency service he uses required

“I’m sitting there on pins and needles checking

Rubinchuk converted the sale into dollars with

The money was in his business’s bank account

Rubinchuk soon after signed up for a separate

In a standard IRS form for cash payments over

But he will pay taxes on a long-term

YOUR TIME MAY VARY

And recently in Hillsboro, Oregon, Jeff Hanzlik