2018 10 26 - AppleMagazine

iPHONE XR:
AN ENTRY LEVEL M ODEL

TO BREAK RECORDS
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POPULARITY: APPLE OFFERS

UPS & DOWNS OF A RANGE OF iPHONES,
A TECH GIANT FROM $450 TO $1,100
60
NETFLIX TO BORROW ANOTHER $2B
TO PAY ITS PROGRAM M ING BILLS
08 138
M ELINDA GATES SPEAKS ON SM OOTHING THE SHIFT TO DIGITAL AGE 24
1ST US PUBLIC HOLOCAUST M EM ORIAL M ERGES PAST WITH NEW TECH 34
TIM COOK BACKS PRIVACY LAWS, WARNS DATA BEING ‘WEAPONIZED’ 74
FACEBOOK BEYOND FACEBOOK? INSTAGRAM , M ESSENGER STEP UP 82
M ICHIGAN M AN GETS JOB THROUGH TECH INCUBATOR 90
WALM ART M AKES IM PROVEM ENTS TO THIRD PARTY M ARKETPLACE 98
OCULUS CO FOUNDER BRENDAN IRIBE JOINS EXODUS FROM FACEBOOK 100
‘HUNTER KILLER’ IS A SUBM ARINE M OVIE ON STEROIDS 124
‘JOHNNY ENGLISH’ SEQUEL IS AN ODE TO LOW TECH CHARM 130
ELON M USK SAYS HIS TRANSIT TEST TUNNEL CLOSE TO COM PLETION 142
YAHOO TO PAY $50M , OTHER COSTS FOR M ASSIVE SECURITY BREACH 144
HACKERS BREACH HEALTHCARE.GOV SYSTEM , GET DATA ON 75,000 150
DESPERATE & DUPED? GOFUNDM E M EANS BIG BUCKS FOR DUBIOUS CARE 164
US BRANDS FALTER IN CONSUM ER REPORTS AUTO RELIABILITY SURVEY 172
TRUM P SPACE FORCE PLAN IS GROUNDED IN REAL NEEDS BUT HAZY 178
M BL: NEW TECHNOLOGY ONLY ADDS TO BASEBALL’S CULTURE OF PARANOIA 188
TOP 10 APPS 104
iTUNES REVIEW 108
TOP 10 SONGS 154
TOP 10 ALBUM S 156
TOP 10 M USIC VIDEOS 158
TOP 10 TV SHOWS 160
TOP 10 BOOKS 162

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THE CUPERTINO FIRM IS STILL
A MAJOR FORCE
As unthinkable as it may have been at one point,
2018 has seen chatter among observers both
inside and outside the tech industry on the
subject of whether Apple remains as exciting
or as innovating a force as it once was. Is there,
then, genuine room for concern, or could the
Californian giant’s inest days still be ahead of it?
Apple has, of course, released all manner of

dynamic and often genre-deining products
over the past decade or so, including the iPhone,
iPad and MacBook Pro. But are the noises that
have long been made in the era of current CEO
Tim Cook about Apple’s supposedly waning
pioneering verve become too loud to ignore?
Yes, Apple’s track record of success in recent

years is incomparable. As recently as 2004, the
company’s annual revenues were a ‘mere’ eight
billion dollars, but had ballooned to more than
$230 billion by 2015, signaling the business’s
continually proven ability to grow and adapt
with changing times.
But this is a company that is so much more

than a company. It has gained a stellar and loyal
following and cemented itself as one of the all-
time legendary names in consumer technology.
However, is there just a tiny chance that the
momentum could be lagging?
Apple is no stranger to intense competition

and criticism, of course. Nonetheless, a few
developments recently have caused some
to wonder whether the irm’s hardware and
software releases are still quite as strong a
license to print money as they once were.
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THE FIRM’S RECENT PAST HAS BEEN
EXCITING ENOUGH...
As recently as September 2017, things were
still looking pretty exciting for Apple, with
its introduction of the iPhone 8 and iPhone
8 Plus. This evolution of the iPhone saw such
advancements as a faster processor, upgraded
camera system and wireless charging,
signaling that Apple still had a irm grasp of
what the future held for smartphones.
The iPhone X was released in November and

proved similarly impactful, thanks to such
attention-grabbing hardware changes as the
removal of the home button and its replacement
with facial recognition technology.
...BUT THE WORRIES ARE STARTING

TO CREEP IN
In 2018, though, it seems that the mood towards
Apple has been a little diferent. It’s not as if the
company’s latest devices have lacked intriguing
new features - after all, the iPhone XS and
iPhone XS Max have incorporated such touches
as new super retina displays, dual camera
systems, faster Face ID and enhanced chips.
It is, though, the more budget-oriented iPhone

XR that has been hailed by Forbes contributor
Gordon Kelly as “by far the most exciting
model this year”, which brings us onto the
subject of something about the new device that
he has described as appearing “very wrong”.
First of all, as observed by respected Loup
Ventures analyst Gene Munster, the XR was
the irst iPhone in generations not to sell out
within hours of going on sale. But three days
later, Kelly noticed something “much worse”
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“Apple may be
known for its
exceptional
marketing, but many
fear that it may be
losing its formerly
sure magic touch”
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Image: Justin Sullivan
- that every capacity and color of iPhone XR

model still seemed to be available on Apple.com
with launch-day shipping.
He continued that “one obvious
counterargument” - that Apple had managed
to produce a suicient number of iPhone XRs
to meet any demand - was unconvincing, given
the Cupertino irm’s failure to achieve this at any
point before in the 11-year history of the iPhone.
Furthermore, he said, widely reported production
problems had already led to a one-month delay
in the iPhone XR going on sale compared to the
XS and XS Max - so “for Apple to have solved
these problems, then produced record-breaking
numbers seems outlandish at best.”
MORE EVIDENCE OF MOUNTING

WOES FOR APPLE
As noted by Macworld and Business Insider,
Apple launched the XR at 3am on Friday, and
by the time most Americans were having their
breakfasts, almost all of the models remained
in stock.
That was quite the about-turn from the situation

to which Apple fans were accustomed from
years past, of having to stay awake or get up
early to pre-order a new iPhone to have any
hope of getting one in their hands on launch
day. But the big question is whether this
represents a blip for Apple given that the XR is
- after all - the ‘entry-level’ iPhone, or instead a
sign of things to come in the years ahead.
Analysts from Citi seem to have gone with
the latter conclusion, stating in a recently
distributed note that when Google searches
are assessed, “We observed there are signiicant
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spikes for web searches after the launch event
each year. We also see the momentum has been
decreasing over time.
“We believe this indicates the market has
been maturing, and customers are getting less
excited for each new generation of iPhone.
We suspect this is because of a slowdown in
innovation and the saturation of iPhone in the
addressable market.”
As if to provide further backing for predictions
of a downward trend for Apple, Business Insider
added that lines outside Apple stores when the
iPhone XS and XS Max became available were
also shorter than they had been in previous years.
UNDERSTANDABLE QUESTIONS HAVE

BEEN ASKED OF APPLE’S LEGENDARILY
HIGH PRICES
There has been an ongoing debate for years
about Apple’s pricing policy for its products. It
has tended to charge a premium compared to
rivals, on account of such factors as its devices’
unique designs, technological advancements
and constantly updated user experience.
However, if Apple releases aren’t quite the

‘events’ that they once were, do the products
that are unveiled at those famous keynotes still
justify such high price tags?
Writing for 9to5Mac, Bradley Chambers
suggested that the company had a case
to answer against increasingly impressive
competition, such as Amazon. He expressed
concern that “Apple used to be about premium
experiences compared to the competitors,
but I do not see ‘premium’ on any products
except iPhone.
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“It seems like now they are counting on the
Apple brand to sell the products versus a best in
class experience.”
THERE’S NO REASON FOR APPLE TO

PANIC JUST YET
The good news for Apple is that it still has plenty
of factors in its favor. Munster has indicated his
optimism that the iPhone XR “will be the top-
selling iPhone over the next 12 months, given it
represents the greatest value.”
Chambers, too, has suggested that there’s

still much that Apple can do to stay ahead of
the pack, saying: “I feel like there are so many
categories they could make a meaningful
impact in (home networking, home automation
products, and expanded cloud services) that it
perplexes me why they don’t.”
Speaking of new categories for Apple, one

long-running rumor that won’t go away is that
of an ‘Apple Car’, it having been reported a few
months ago that - potentially very signiicantly -
the company had hired at least 46 employees
from Tesla in 2018.
Apple, then, remains in a highly advantageous

position - at least for now. Will Cook and co
help to ensure this will continue to be the case
well into the 2020s, with a clutch of new game-
changing product unveilings in the year or two
to come?
by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan
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Image: Lucas Jackson
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MELINDA GATES
SPEAKS ON
SMOOTHING
THE SHIFT TO
DIGITAL AGE
Instead of destroying jobs and leaving legions

of people without work, the digital revolution
can open doors to unseen opportunities and
industries, but only if everyone has access to the
internet and the ability to use it, Melinda Gates
said in a recent interview.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has
joined a global initiative working to ensure
frontier technologies such as artiicial
intelligence and virtual reality will help, not hurt
the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
The efort to build so-called “digital ecosystems”

by the Gates Foundation-supported Pathways
for Prosperity Commission on Technology and
Inclusive Development was showcased at the
annual meeting of the International Monetary
Fund and World Bank last week in Bali, Indonesia.
Among the leaders in the Pathways initiative
is Sri Mulyani Indrawati, inance minister in
Indonesia, where the “Palapa Ring” project aims
to make high-quality broadband connections
available to 100 million more of its 265 million
people across the archipelago.
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Some excerpts from the AP’s interview with
Melinda Gates in Bali:
Q: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is

probably best known for its work in the health
sector. Now that you’re also working on building
these digital ecosystems, what do you hope your
legacy will be in this area?
Gates: I hope we’re always known for the

health work. I hope we’re always known for
lifting up everybody in the world, the most
marginalized. That’s why you see me doing a lot
more these days about girls’ empowerment, and
about digital.
My concern is, going to conferences these last

two years, it became this big echo chamber of,
“Oh, robots are going to take all our jobs and AI’s
the next big thing.”
Robots aren’t going to take all our jobs... I hope

the foundation is part of making sure everybody
is brought into the digital ecosystem.
Q: It’s been astonishing how quickly the digital

adoption has been.
Gates: I’ve been in villages in Africa where

chickens are running around. There’s no
electricity. There’s no running water and
you hear a cell phone ring. You think, “Wow!
Where did that come from and where are they
recharging it?”
But it’s not enough. They actually have to

get hooked up to the internet and they have
to be able to have a digital bank account. I
get concerned about women’s literacy, their
inancial literacy, so I want to make sure we do
very speciic programming to pull everybody in,
including women.
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Q: What kind of situation exempliies what you
are trying to do?
Gates: It’s this company Tala Mobile . The

founder went around Africa and interviewed
3,500 people and came to realize that you see
all this entrepreneurship in lots of countries, but
businesses were falling behind or basically dying
because they didn’t have access to credit. So she
realized that no traditional bank would loan these
people money, even a $100 loan, $50 loan, $300
loan. So she igured out with an app and data
mining that she could go look at their data and
igure out whether they would be creditworthy.
So now she’s extended 9 million loans in
countries ... and her repayment rate is 92 percent.
To me this was really exciting. All these
entrepreneurs who are getting access to $100
loans, they’re actually creating small businesses
in their own communities. And they’ll know
what their communities need.
Q: Have you seen this elsewhere?
Gates: (Referring to the fast-growing Indonesian

ride-hailing company Go-Jek , whose
founder Nadiem Makarim is on the Pathways
commission) They’ve got a million people who
are either drivers or what they call “talent.” Only
about 12 to 15 percent of the drivers are women,
but they’re the ones who have, say, a small food
stall. All of a sudden, their food is being picked
up and delivered across town instead of just in
their local neighborhood.
Go-Jek is teaching them all these
entrepreneurial skills and they’re using their
talents. If they’re someone who does hair or is
a masseuse or ... these people are being pulled
into the formal economy.
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Image: Seth Wenig
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Many of the drivers don’t have a driver’s license
or even a birth certiicate. So Go-Jek’s igured
out how to get them a driver’s license and
birth certiicate. So now they really are part of
the economy.
Several of the women told pretty dramatic
stories about things that had happened in their
lives, either inancially or with a spouse and
where they literally were either thrown out or
had no means and this was a way for them to
get back on their feet and support themselves
and their families.
Q: I wonder if you tend to get more of

that organic community development in
developing countries?
Gates: I think so. We get to a certain place in a

country and then get sort of stuck. Take M-PESA
in Kenya. The poor aren’t welcomed at the
banks in Kenya. The way they’re dressed, they’re
shunned. With the M-PESA digital wallet, the
poor start to be able to save $1 a day, $2 a day.
It changes everything for them. Because when
there’s a health problem they actually have the
money saved.
When that grew up, it moved to Tanzania. To the

Philippines. To Bangladesh. It moved all over
the world. The U.S. is still catching up to having
digital wallets for people.
When you get your digital ecosystem right, it
really changes things. You see India and China
pushing ahead on this in a super strong way,
and other countries are learning.
Q: It’s one thing to have the tools and
connectivity to be able to do things and it’s
another to have the mindset to use them. It
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seems as if in America using connectivity to
create jobs is not getting as much of a foothold
as it ought to be.
Gates: Around the world, no matter where you
are: America, Bangladesh ... people imagine a
better future for their children. I think what’s
under threat in the United States is people aren’t
seeing the American Dream anymore.
It used to be that if you grew up in a low income
place you thought you had a chance of being
middle or high income. That dream has stalled
now. That’s a change in the last 30 years. When
that dream is under threat you don’t see the
internet and these technologies as being quite
as helpful.
I also think that the advent of the idea of

‘fake news’ has been incredibly detrimental
to the United States in the last few years. It is
disturbing. Those are headwinds right now.
Q: So it boils down to hope? Is there anything

about the digital ecosystem that can counter the
lack of that?
Gates: I think the digital tools will come further

and will start to help. In education, for instance,
we know education is the great equalizer. We’re
still learning what the tools can actually do.
Q: I certainly can’t imagine what might

be coming.
Gates: I don’t think anyone can. I think we’ll see

some incredibly interesting examples coming
out of not just the U.S. and Europe and Japan
but out of these developing world countries,
because they’ll know what the needs are in their
countries for what hasn’t yet been built.
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1ST US PUBLIC
HOLOCAUST
MEMORIAL
MERGES PAST
WITH NEW TECH
In 1964, the irst public memorial to the

Holocaust in the United States was unveiled in a
solemn ceremony in Philadelphia. The bronze-
on-black granite sculpture called “Six Million
Jewish Martyrs” was the work of artist Nathan
Rapoport, who led his native Poland when the
Nazis invaded Warsaw. It was commissioned by
a group of Philadelphia-area Holocaust survivors
and Jewish civic leaders. The sculpture, which
depicts images of resistance, innocence and
faith, has sat unchanged on its perch along the
Benjamin Franklin Parkway ever since.
Now, after more than half a century, the

Holocaust Memorial Plaza has been expanded
and enhanced to focus on both remembrance
and education. With new displays and an
interactive app, visitors can hear testimonies
from survivors, liberators and witnesses
associated with the Philadelphia community.
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The new plaza opened at a ceremony featuring
local dignitaries and Holocaust survivors.
Some highlights of the expansion:
SIX PILLARS:
The plaza’s centerpiece is called the “Six
Pillars.” Organized in pairs, the pillars contrast
atrocities of the Holocaust with American
constitutional protections and values. The idea
is to remind visitors that if America is faithful to
the Constitution, a genocide like the Holocaust
will not happen here, said Eszter Kutas, the
acting director of the Philadelphia Holocaust
Remembrance Foundation.
For example, one pillar is dedicated to human

equality, and features a quote from the
Declaration of Independence, and is contrasted
with a pillar describing the Nazis’ idea of a
master race.
The six pillars feature quotes from igures like

George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower and
Philadelphia native and concentration camp
liberator Leon Bass.
CONCENTRATION CAMP LIBERATOR,

BLACK PHILADELPHIAN
Leon Bass was 20, an Army corporal who
had grown up in Philadelphia embittered
by the humiliation and degradation
of racism. Buchenwald changed
his life.
He helped liberate the Nazi death camp in
April 1945, and said that for the irst time, he
realized that racism, and the human sufering it
generates, is a universal evil.
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“Some of them just wanted to touch you, be
near you,” Bass recalled of the survivors in an
Associated Press interview in 1985. “They stood
around and just looked at you with those gaunt,
deep-set eyes.”
Bass, who died in 2015 at age 90, was silent about
Buchenwald for more than 20 years, opening
up for the irst time in 1968 when a Holocaust
survivor came to speak at Benjamin Franklin High
School, where he was the principal.
From that day forward, for decades, he spoke

out about the atrocities he witnessed.
TRAIN TRACKS TO TREBLINKA

A portion of the original train tracks that led
to the Treblinka extermination camp in Nazi-
occupied Poland is embedded in the paving of
the plaza.
“It’s to remind visitors of the millions of

deportations that took place,” Kutas said.
The Nazis built six main death camps, all in

occupied Poland: Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno,
Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka. Nazis
murdered an estimated 700,000 and 900,000
Jews in Treblinka’s gas chambers during the war.
The camp is perhaps the most blatant example

of the “Final Solution,” the Nazi plot to rid
Europe of its Jews. It was designed with the sole
intention of exterminating Jews, as opposed to
other facilities that had at least a facade of being
prison or labor camps. Treblinka’s victims were
transported there in cattle cars and gassed to
death almost immediately upon arrival.
Only a few dozen prisoners managed to
escape Treblinka.
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SAPLING FROM THERESIENSTADT TREE
“Children imprisoned at the Theresienstadt
camp received a sapling from a teacher in
the camp, and nurtured it, knowing they may
not see it mature,” Kutas said. Those children
were later deported to Auschwitz and killed,
she said, but the tree continued to thrive at
the concentration camp in what was then the
German-occupied Czechoslovakia.
A sapling from that tree was planted two weeks
ago in the plaza, to represent life and hope for
the future, “a reminder of how we must nurture
our children,” Kutas said.
She said there are about half a dozen to a dozen
saplings from the Theresienstadt tree planted
around the world, with some in Israel, Germany,
San Francisco and Chicago.
INTERACTIVE EDUCATION
The Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance
Foundation partnered with the USC Shoah
Foundation to bring educational content and
technology to the renovated plaza.
An app speciically developed for the plaza

will allow visitors to use their mobile devices
to connect to video testimonials of Holocaust
survivors and witnesses. The videos will draw
from the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History
Archive that has over 54,000 eyewitness accounts
of the Holocaust, along with photos, documents,
maps and other educational materials.
The app will activate as a visitor moves through the
plaza and will provide context and explanation of
the site’s elements. Each user can tailor the app to
have an age-appropriate experience.
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AN AFFORDABLE iPHONE FLAGSHIP
When Apple unveiled a trio of new iPhones last
month, it was the XR that generated the biggest
response. A brand new model with a stunning
new design, the XR is considered as a “low cost”
version of last year’s iPhone X, but with all of the
biggest features we have come to know and
love, including facial recognition and Face ID, a
stunning all-glass display, and the fastest and
most powerful smartphone chip ever included
in an iPhone. As the new device gets ready to
launch to the public, we take a closer look at the
new iPhone XR and explore how the model may,
unexpectedly, become one of the biggest selling
smartphones in the history of the iPhone.
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A STUNNING NEW DEVICE
Alongside the announcement of the new
iPhone XS and XS Max, Apple’s new high-
end models, came the iPhone XR. The model
was teased in typical Apple style, with a ‘and
one more thing’ introduction, and despite
its name and specs being leaked just a day
before its oicial unveiling, the XR was met
with praise by critics and technology fans
after a hands-on. The new model features a
stunning all-new Liquid Retina display, which is
the most advanced LCD display in the industry.
Whilst the new XS and XS Max models came
packaged with OLED, Apple opted to keep
LCD technology to reduce the manufacturing
costs of the device.
Of course, that’s not to say that the XR is not

equipped with a stunning screen. Indeed,
Apple has engineered a display with an
innovative backlight design, which allows
the screen to stretch to the corners of the XR,
allowing users to see true-to-life colors from
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one edge of the screen to the other. The Liquid
Retina display is 6.1-inches, has a 1792×828
resolution, and ofers 326 pixels per inch. The
screen ofers best-in-class color management,
and, according to Apple, it has the “industry’s
best color accuracy” with “advanced color
management” to boot. A six-channel light
sensor allows the device to adjust its white
balance on the screen so that images and
content look as natural as on a printed page.
The model is dust and water resistant

and comes with Apple’s signature Face
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ID technology, which reinvents the way
consumers unlock and interact with their
devices. The technology uses advanced
machine learning to recognize changes in your
appearance, so if you were to grow a beard or
wear a pair of sunglasses, you’d still be able
to unlock your smartphone. Face ID can also
be used to log into apps and accounts, pay in
shops using Apple Pay, and take advantage of
the new Animoji and Memoji available as part
of iOS 12, which allows you to create custom
emojis based on your physical appearance.
iPhone XR comes packaged with a new A12

Bionic chip and a next-generation Neural
Engine, delivering high performance and using
real-time machine learning to improve the
way we experience our photographs, gaming
and augmented reality applications. Thanks to
eiciency cores, the new chip is said to use 50%
less power than Apple’s A11 Bionic chip, while
its 8-core Neural Engine allows for an impressive
5-trillion operations per second, with Core ML
running up to nine times faster than on the
A11 Bionic chip ofering increased processing
performance. Combined, the new hardware
allows the iPhone XR to power truly eicient
gameplay whilst maintaining battery life. With
the world’s most advanced smartphone camera
and augmented reality tools included out of the
box, there’s never been a better iPhone model.
From the moment the device was announced,
social media was awash with praise. Thousands
of videomakers and journalists suggested that
technology fans should ‘hold of on buying the
XS and wait for the new iPhone XR,’ with some
saying that the additional features that the more
expensive XS model ofered were negligible.
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Memoji in iOS 12!
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As part of Apple’s plan to increase the sales of
the iPhone XS and XS Max, the company made
its more expensive models available for sale
irst, and so far sales are strong with an even
split between the XS and XS Max. Many were
holding out for the iPhone XR, however, which
oicially went on sale on October 26. The week
prior, the device was inally made available for
pre-order, with some models selling out within
just half an hour; their coral and yellow models
were particularly popular, now shipping
within two weeks.
Should You Buy the iPhone XR?
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A MORE ACCESSIBLE iPHONE
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why the
iPhone XR is set to perform so well is in its
pricing. 2017’s iPhone X was considered a
revolutionary device by many, but critics and
consumers said that the $999 asking price was
just too expensive for an iPhone. The company
has maintained its pricing structure for the new
iPhone XS and XS Max models this year, with a
top of the range XS Max with 512GB storage
capacity coming in at an eye-watering
$1,449.00. Of course, most consumers purchase
their iPhones as part of a mobile plan, and
spread the cost of the device over several
months and years, but pricing is becoming
something of a sticking point for price-
sensitive consumers who do not want to spend
thousands of dollars - in many cases, more than
the cost of a MacBook or MacBook Pro - for a
new phone.
The iPhone XR, however, ofers a great deal of

the same functionality as the iPhone X and XS
without the price tag. Although the iPhone
XR is kitted out with a cheaper display, comes
without 3D touch and has a single-lens rear
camera, the majority of these features are
‘nice to have’ rather than necessary in today’s
smartphone market. Whilst still on the pricey
side, the XR is available from $749 with 64GB
storage capacity and reaches $899 on the
256GB model, which will no doubt appeal to
customers looking for an afordable device.
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SALES EXPECTED TO BE HIGH
Although the iPhone XR has only been on sale
for a couple of days, the model is expected to
perform well in the run-up to the holiday season.
The Cupertino irm is reportedly ramping up
orders on its new model as it forecasts higher
than expected sales, with Digitimes saying that
it expects Apple to ship more than 20 million
models in October alone. The analysts also
said that the ratio of iPhone XR to Apple’s
total iPhone orders was revised upward of
50%, which goes above and beyond the
expectations that the new iPhone XR would
serve as the next iteration of the iPhone SE, a
cheaper model for a small percentage of its
user base. Instead, the XR looks set to become
Apple’s most popular model.
There’s also the added beneit that the iPhone

XR will be shipped with a dual SIM in China. The
XS and XS Max will come with the option to hold
a physical non-SIM and an electronic SIM card
around the world, but the XR will ship with two
physical SIM card slots in China to appeal
to its growing Chinese consumer base. The
ability to run of of two SIM cards certainly
isn’t in high demand in the Western world, but
Chinese consumers regularly have two SIM cards
and use one when traveling or to contact their
friends and family in other Chinese states.
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THE REVIEWS ARE IN
Ahead of the launch of the iPhone XR,
technology journalists and vloggers shared
their thoughts on the new device, with Apple
lifting the embargo on those with preview
models. Tyler Stalman said that the iPhone XR
would be “the right choice for most people”
and that the XR saw the “biggest change to
the iPhone camera in years,” while Mashable
said that, after upgrading to the XS, they had a
“pang of regret” and that “there is so much of
that stuf in the XR” and that the new model
should be considered as “the iPhone”.
SuperSafTV, who showed of all of the new
models, stressed the similarity between the
XR and the XS, and that the afordability of
the new model would no doubt make it the
most popular, while CNET’s Bridget Carey
said that she would not miss the absent 3D
touch in the new iPhone model and that the
iPhone XR came with “all of the features that
matter” when compared with the iPhone
XS. TechRadar, on the other hand, thought
that the new model was going to become the
“undercover hit of the Apple launch” and
added that while Apple was keen on “shaving
of some of the more expensive elements of
the iPhone XS” for the new model, the created a
“still-impressive package” that the vast majority
of consumers would will to purchase.
With the iPhone XR now available to purchase
and another Apple event set to bring a new
iPad with Face ID and more, it’s set to be a
blockbuster year for Apple. The company will
no doubt see the new iPhone XR as the key
to unlocking additional sales - by ofering a
professional model and a more afordable
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iPhone XR Hands-on: Everything You Need to Know
57
model that includes the majority of the
company’s new features, consumers will be
quicker to splash the cash and invest in a new
smartphone, rather than holding on to older
devices for longer. The holiday season is set to
be one of the most exciting in Apple history,
with record-breaking sales of its iPhone and
iPad lines no doubt helping Apple to further
grow its impressive market share. Only time will
tell whether the XR will become a permanent
addition to the iPhone family, but with millions
of units already shipping, it’s clear that Apple is
on to another winner…
iPhone XR Hands-on - Early Look at All Colors
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iPhone XR hands-on:
An early look at Apple’s colorful phones
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APPLE OFFERS
A RANGE OF
iPHONES, FROM
$450 TO $1,100
Apple’s new iPhone XR has most of the features

found in the top-of-the-line iPhone XS Max, but
not its $1,100 price tag. The XR ofers the right
trade-ofs for just $750.
For something cheaper, you’ll need to look in the
iPhone history bin. Older models are still quite
good. If you’re shopping for a new phone, it pays
to think hard about what you really want and
what you’re willing to pay for it. Improvements
over the previous generation tend to be
incremental, but can add up over time — and so
do the sums you’ll pay for them.
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iPHONE 7 ($449)
The big jump in iPhone cameras came a
generation earlier with the iPhone 6S, when
Apple went from 8 megapixels to 12 megapixels
in resolution. With the iPhone 7, the front
camera goes from 5 megapixels to 7 megapixels,
so selies don’t feel as inferior.
The iPhone 7 is Apple’s irst to lose the standard
headphone jack. Headphones go into its
Lightning port, which is used for both charging
and data transfer. It’s a pain when you want to
listen to music while recharging the phone. For
that, you need $159 wireless earphones called
AirPods. Apple no longer includes an adapter for
standard headphones; one will set you back $9 if
you need it.
iPHONE 7 PLUS ($569)

This larger version of the iPhone 7 has a second
camera lens in the back, allowing for twice the
magniication without any degradation in image
quality. It also lets the camera gauge depth and
blur backgrounds in portrait shots, something
once limited to full-featured SLR cameras. The
dual-lens camera alone is a good reason to go
for a Plus, though the larger size isn’t a good it
for those with small hands or small pockets.
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iPHONE 8 ($599)
New color ilters in the camera produce truer
and richer colors, while a new lash technique
tries to light the foreground and background
more evenly. Diferences are subtle, though.
The year-old model, similar in size to the iPhone
7, restores a glass back found in the earliest
iPhones. That’s done so you can charge it on a
wireless-charging mat, which also solves the
problem of listening to music while charging.
But with more glass, it’s even more important to
get a case and perhaps a service plan.
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iPHONE 8 PLUS ($699)
Again, the Plus version has a larger screen and
a second lens. For those shots with blurred
backgrounds, a new feature lets you add ilters
to mimic studio and other lighting conditions.
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iPHONE XR ($749)
The display on Apple’s latest model, which
comes out Friday, lacks the vivid colors, contrast
quality and resolution of the pricier iPhone XS
and XS Max. As with the XS models, though,
you’ll still get a display that largely runs from
edge to edge. Gone is most of the surrounding
bezel along with the home button. Many tasks
now require swipes rather than presses. The
ingerprint ID sensor is replaced with facial
recognition to unlock the phone. There’s more
display than the regular XS, but the phone itself
is also larger — just not as large as the Max.
The camera continues to improve, with better
focus and low-light capabilities. Many shots now
blend four exposures rather than two for better
lighting balance in suboptimal conditions. The
XR doesn’t have the dual-lens camera, though it
can ofer some of the blurred-background efect
with software.
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iPHONE XS ($999)
As with the iPhone X it replaces, the new XS
also has an edge-to-edge display. The display
has about the same surface area as the iPhone
7 Plus and 8 Plus, while the phone itself is only
slightly larger than the regular iPhone 7 and
8. Improved display technology means vivid
colors and better contrasts, including black that
is black rather than simply dark. You also get a
dual-lens camera.
iPHONE XS MAX ($1,099)

This is essentially the “Plus” version of the iPhone
XS. The phone itself is about the size of the Plus,
but with more room for the display. This phone
won’t feel big for existing Plus users, but think
twice if you have small hands or small pockets.
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WHILE SUPPLIES LAST
Apple no longer sells the iPhone SE , which is
essentially a three-year-old iPhone 6S, packed in
a body that’s smaller but thicker than the iPhone
7 and 8. Though the trend in phones has been
to go bigger, some people preferred the smaller
size — and the $350 price tag. You can try to get
it from some wireless carriers and other retailers,
at least for now.
ALL IN THE MEMORY

If you get an SE, 7 or 7 Plus, consider spending
another $100 to quadruple the storage. Those
phones come with a paltry 32 gigabytes, just
half of what’s standard these days. If you don’t
upgrade, you risk illing up your phone quickly
with photos, video, songs and podcasts.
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Image: Yves Herman
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TIM COOK
BACKS PRIVACY
LAWS, WARNS
DATA BEING
‘WEAPONIZED’
The head of Apple on Wednesday endorsed

tough privacy laws for both Europe and the U.S.
and renewed the technology giant’s commitment
to protecting personal data, which he warned
was being “weaponized” against users.
Speaking at an international conference on

data privacy, Apple CEO Tim Cook applauded
European Union authorities for bringing in a
strict new data privacy law in May and said the
iPhone maker supports a U.S. federal privacy law.
Cook’s speech, along with video comments
from Google and Facebook top bosses, in
the European Union’s home base in Brussels,
underscores how the U.S. tech giants are jostling
to curry favor in the region as regulators tighten
their scrutiny.
Data protection has become a major political
issue worldwide, and European regulators
have led the charge in setting new rules for the
big internet companies. The EU’s new General
Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, requires
companies to change the way they do business
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in the region, and a number of headline-
grabbing data breaches have raised public
awareness of the issue.
“In many jurisdictions, regulators are asking
tough questions. It is time for rest of the world,
including my home country, to follow your lead,”
Cook said.
“We at Apple are in full support of a
comprehensive federal privacy law in the United
States,” he said, to applause from hundreds of
privacy oicials from more than 70 countries.
In the U.S., California is moving to put in

regulations similar to the EU’s strict rules by 2020
and other states are mulling more aggressive
laws. That’s rattled the big tech companies,
which are pushing for a federal law that would
treat them more leniently.
Cook warned that technology’s promise to

drive breakthroughs that beneit humanity
is at risk of being overshadowed by the
harm it can cause by deepening division and
spreading false information. He said the trade in
personal information “has exploded into a data
industrial complex.”
“Our own information, from the everyday to the
deeply personal, is being weaponized against
us with military eiciency,” he said. Scraps of
personal data are collected for digital proiles
that let businesses know users better than
they know themselves and allow companies to
ofer users “increasingly extreme content” that
hardens their convictions, Cook said.
“This is surveillance. And these stockpiles of
personal data serve only to enrich the companies
that collect them,” he said. “This should make us
very uncomfortable. It should unsettle us.”
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Cook’s appearance was one-up on his tech rivals
and showed of his company’s credentials in
data privacy, which has become a weak point
for both Facebook and Google. That is facilitated
also by the fact that Apple makes most of its
money by selling hardware like iPhones instead
of ads based on user data.
“With the spotlight shining as directly as it is,
Apple have the opportunity to show that they
are the leading player and they are taking up the
mantle,” said Ben Robson, a lawyer at Oury Clark
specializing in data privacy. Cook’s appearance
“is going to have good currency,” with oicials,
he added.
His speech comes a week after Apple unveiled

expanded privacy protection measures for
people in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New
Zealand, including allowing them to download
all personal data held by Apple. European
users already had access to this feature after
GDPR took efect. Apple plans to expand
it worldwide.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google

head Sundar Pichai sent brief video remarks
to the annual meeting of global data
privacy chiefs.
Zuckerberg said the social network takes

seriously its “basic ethical responsibility” to
safeguard personal information but added that
“the past year has shown we have a lot more
work to do,” referring to a big data breach and
the scandal over the misuse of data by political
consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
He also said the company is investing in
measures to beef up protection, including
building a new tool to let users clear their
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Image: Dado Ruvic
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browsing activity and deploying artiicial
intelligence to detect fake accounts and take
down extremist content.
They both said they supported regulation,
with Pichai noting Google recently proposed
a legislative framework that would build on
GDPR and extend many of its principles to
users globally.
The International Conference of Data Protection

and Privacy Commissioners , held in a diferent
city every year, normally attracts little attention
but its Brussels venue this year takes on
symbolic meaning as EU oicials ratchet up their
tech regulation.
The 28-nation EU took on global leadership of
the issue when it launched GDPR. The new rules
require companies to justify the collection and
use of personal data gleaned from phones, apps
and visited websites. They must also give EU
users the ability to access and delete data, and
to object to data use.
GDPR also allows for big ines benchmarked to

revenue, which for big tech companies could
amount to billions of dollars.
In the irst big test of the new rules, Ireland’s
data protection commission, which is a lead
authority for Europe as many big tech irms are
based in the country, is investigating Facebook’s
data breach, which let hackers access 3 million
EU accounts.
Google, meanwhile, shut down its Plus social
network this month after revealing it had a law
that could have exposed personal information of
up to half a million people.
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FACEBOOK
BEYOND
FACEBOOK?
INSTAGRAM,
MESSENGER
STEP UP
When Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion

in 2012, it seemed like a big gamble for an
unproven little app. Six years later, that little app
— along with Messenger and WhatsApp — are
serving as Facebook’s safety net for a future that
could find its flagship service on the sidelines.
Sure, Facebook reigns in social media today,

and this is not likely to change soon. Still, amid
the company’s seemingly endless troubles over
elections meddling, misinformation, privacy
lapses, hacking and hate speech, the idea that
Facebook may not always be on top has begun
to take hold.
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“Facebook could collapse,” said David
Kirkpatrick, who wrote a 2010 book on
Facebook’s early history.
In an interview, he said the elections manipulations
issue “could get so terrifying that advertisers could
start to back away. That’s nowhere near happening
now, but it could happen.”
That is, as Facebook stops being a virtual
watercooler for friendly conversation, but a
lair for trolls and misinformation — advertisers
might find the service too dangerous to
showcase laundry detergent and shoes.
For now, Facebook is a social and advertising

powerhouse. It has 2.23 billion users, a number
that’s still growing at a healthy pace outside of
the U.S. Wall Street analysts project Facebook’s
2018 revenue will top $55 billion. While the
company doesn’t break out revenue among its
apps, eMarketer estimates that Instagram will
bring in 16 percent of Facebook’s advertising
revenue this year and 25 percent by 2020.
(The research firm does not have estimates for
Messenger ads, which are still new and nascent,
and WhatsApp, which doesn’t have ads yet.)
“It really speaks to the fact that advertisers
love Instagram,” eMarketer analyst Debra Aho
Williamson said. “It has the appeal of being a
generally positive environment.”
In fact, Instagram is becoming the top social
media service for many brands to interact with
consumers, said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO of the
social media marketing firm Socialbakers. So
even though these companies are reaching a
smaller audience than Facebook, these people
are “engaging,” or interacting, a lot more with the
advertisers, he said.
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Facebook is working hard to ensure that
Messenger and later, WhatsApp, become viable
businesses as well. On Tuesday, Facebook
announced plans to make its Messenger app
simpler and easier to use. But the redesign also
makes it clear that messages from businesses
— and ads — are becoming increasingly
important. Such messages are now front and
center alongside messages with friends and
other individuals.
The new Messenger features a “dark mode”

that lets people switch to white text on a black
background. It has fewer “tabs” — or words
and icons to tap to get to different sections
in the app. The previous version had nine,
including “messages,”“active” to show ongoing
conversations, “groups,”“games” and a “discover”
icon to find bots to chat with for everything
from the weather to horoscopes to shopping.
The new version has just three: “chats,”“people”
and “discover” to connect with businesses, follow
the news or play games.
Stan Chudnovsky, head of product for

messaging at Facebook, said the primary intent
wasn’t to elevate messaging with businesses.
But he said that “when people spend more and
more time communicating with each other on
a platform, inevitably that is where businesses
need to be. It’s almost like print happened and
then businesses needed to be on print.”
Facebook, of course, is working hard to nudge

people and businesses in this direction,
convincing them that chatting on Messenger
is more efficient than, say, emailing, calling —
or tweeting at — an airline, a clothing store or
even your bank.
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One thing Facebook has always understood
is the importance of human connections and
interaction. Chudnovsky considers one-on-
one communications a “basic human need.”
Considering that people use Messenger, and not
the main Facebook service, for such interactions,
does this mean Messenger is more important
than Facebook?
“We don’t take a position on what is more

important,” Chudnovsky said.
Still, considering that people no longer need

a Facebook account to use Messenger, maybe
some day it will be. After all, people (especially
younger ones) are using Facebook less frequently,
even as they flock to Instagram and its messaging
services. A Pew Research Center study recently
found that just over half of teens use Facebook,
while 72 percent use Instagram.
“The idea has always been not to replace

Facebook, but to add to it,” said Nate Elliott, head
of the market research firm Nineteen Insights.
“But now that Facebook’s reputation has taken
a beating, I’m sure that they see it as a very
nice insurance policy.”
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90
MICHIGAN
MAN GETS JOB
THROUGH TECH
INCUBATOR
From the time he joined 20Fathoms, Paul Van

Dyke was going through a job interview.
He just didn’t know it.
Van Dyke turned an individual membership at

the Traverse City tech incubator into a position
as a software developer at HealthBridge. The
Grand Rapids-based start-up ofers an employer-
sponsored beneit that helps the employee
manage the balance due after insurance
with a consolidated statement and easy
repayment terms.
“It was fun to watch him interact,” said Tim

Heger, chief technology oicer at HealthBridge.
“He didn’t realize I was watching him and kind of
interviewing him from afar: How he interacted
with people, how he handled problems, how he
tackled them, what was his work ethic, was he
here early, was he staying late.
“We’re a start-up; you have to have people

willing to put the time in.”
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For Van Dyke, 20Fathoms was a gamble that
paid of. The 26-year-old former Marine moved
back to Traverse City from Colorado in late July
without a job.
“I got really homesick,” Van Dyke told the

Traverse City Record-Eagle . “I was in a cyber
security job at the time. I had gone to school
for mainly web development. I decided I loved
coding and I wanted to write software and I
wanted to do it in Traverse City.
“So I quit my job. I came home a few days after

(20Fathoms) opened.”
Joining 20Fathoms, on one hand, was a risk.

On the other hand, it’s exactly the operation’s
deinition: A place for a free exchange of ideas
and knowledge.
“He didn’t sit in his house and wait for someone

to call,” Heger said. “He put himself in the middle
of a very active technology space and hub. He
made a little bit of an investment — obviously
he probably didn’t have a ton of money sitting
around — and $100 a month was meaningful.
“I was impressed that he took that step to say,
‘I’ve got to get in the middle of this. I’ve got to
continue to grow. I’ve got be around people
who are doing this.’ I thought that initiative
alone was worth me at least taking a shot at.”
“This is one of the best-case scenarios I could

have imagined,” Van Dyke added.
After joining 20Fathoms, Van Dyke started
working with Justin Gauthier, who was
developing the incubator’s web site. Van Dyke
said it was a way to continue his education.
“I was just looking for any way to code, any way
to gain some knowledge and experience,” he
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said. “If I was helping out for free, then great.
Being able to have a more senior developer give
me some direction was really valuable.”
HealthBridge was one of the original members
at 20Fathoms. Heger said the tech incubator is a
perfect location for HealthBridge.
“We’re excited to be in this space,” Heger said. “I
think it’s going to be the launch pad for a lot of
really cool initiatives.”
Heger said Van Dyke was his irst hire for the
Traverse City oice. But won’t be the last.
“I’m actively looking,” he said. “We’re about to

inish closing our second round of inancing.
Once that inancing is in place, I’ll be able to
pull the trigger on a number of people I’ve been
talking to.
“My goal is to have about 15 to 16 people

working here before this time next year. I think
the talent is here.”
“It’s not everyone’s tech destination city right
now, but I think that this is such a beautiful
place,” Van Dyke said. “I’d like to see it become a
tech hub.”
The pull that drew Van Dyke home is the same

thing that drew Heger to the area. He has lived
in Traverse City since 1995, but has been on the
road since 2000 with “management consulting
and e-commerce consulting for major retailers.”
Heger returned on weekends to visit his family,

who remained in Traverse City. That practice
continued when he joined HealthBridge a
year ago.
“We inally grew to the point where we decided
we wanted to make a presence up here,” Heger
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said. “We heard about 20Fathoms, wanted to
become a part of it, we set up shop here and
now I can walk to work.”
The growth of HealthBridge in Traverse City

eventually will force the business to look for
more space. But it will always be the beginning
for the company, and the place that brought Van
Dyke and Heger back.
“Once we get to the point when we get much
fuller, we’ll have to look for other space,” Heger
said. “We’ll always be a part of this for the next
year or two. We’re really committed to the whole
concept of 20Fathoms. We may have three or
four people in this space as we begin building
out the next phase. This will be the launch
pad for us.
“It’s just nice to be home. I haven’t been home
this many days in a row in a decade.”
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WALMART MAKES
IMPROVEMENTS
TO THIRD-PARTY
MARKETPLACE
Walmart says it will work with third-party sellers

to make millions of items available for free two-
day shipping on orders over $35.
The company is also simplifying the returns

process for eligible products bought from
marketplace sellers. That includes allowing
shoppers to return the items at any one of its
4,700 stores.
Previously, only select items were eligible for
free two-day shipping.
Walmart will begin to roll out the improvements

in mid-November as it seeks to better compete
with online leader Amazon ahead of the holidays.
Amazon already allows its sellers to ofer free two-
day shipping. Last year, more than half the items
sold on Amazon were from third-party sellers.
Walmart doesn’t break out how many third-
party sellers it has, but its website sells 75 million
items from them.
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100
OCULUS
CO-FOUNDER
BRENDAN IRIBE
JOINS EXODUS
FROM FACEBOOK
A co-founder of Facebook’s virtual-reality

division is joining the exodus of executives
to leave the company after striking it rich in
lucrative sales of their startups.
Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe disclosed his

decision to leave Facebook in a tweet posted
this week. His departure comes 2 1/2 years after
Facebook parted ways with Oculus’ other co-
founder, Palmer Luckey.
Both Iribe and Luckey joined Facebook in 2014
after selling Oculus to the company for $2
billion. Iribe had been Oculus’ CEO until 2016
when he shifted to a lower-ranking job in the
virtual reality division.
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Facebook issued a statement hailing Iribe
for pushing virtual reality “far beyond the
boundaries of what people thought possible
and it’s because of his vision that we’re all
here working on VR today. We’re thankful for
his leadership, his dedication to building the
impossible, and he’ll be missed.”
Oculus is considered a pioneer in making the
virtual reality headsets that immerse users in
artificial, three-dimensional worlds. Despite
Facebook’s backing, virtual reality remains a
niche field of technology popular primarily
among video game fans looking for even more
compelling entertainment.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is hoping to

expand virtual reality’s appeal with next year’s
release of the Oculus Quest headset.
It’s not unusual for startup founders such as Iribe

to leave much larger companies several years
after selling to them.
But Facebook has been hit with a wave of

departures over the past six months, raising
questions whether Zuckerberg’s push for new
areas of revenue growth beyond the company’s
social networking service is raising tensions in
the executive ranks.
In April, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum left Facebook
four years after selling the messaging app, and
last month Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom and
fellow co-founder Mike Krieger bolted . Facebook
bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012.
Systrom hinted there might have been some
discord during an appearance last week.
“No one every leaves a job because things were
awesome,” he said.
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103
#01 – Tomb of the Mask
By Playgendary GmbH
Category: Games / Free
Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#02 – Go Fish!
By Kwalee Ltd
#03 – Hello Stars

By SamShui Corporation
#04 – Instagram
By Instagram, Inc.
Category: Photo & Video / Free
#05 – Snapchat
By Snap, Inc.
Category: Photo & Video / Free
#06 – Messenger
By Facebook, Inc.
Category: Social Networking / Free
#07 – Facebook
By Facebook, Inc.
#08 – Bumper.io
By Voodoo
#09 – Fortnite
By Chair Entertainment Group
#10 – Google Maps

By Google, Inc.
Category: Navigation / Free
104
#01 – GarageBand
By Apple
Category: Music / Free
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later
#02– Microsoft Remote Desktop 10

By Microsoft Corporation
Category: Business / Free
Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit processor
#03 – WhatsApp Desktop

By WhatsApp Inc.
Compatibility: OS X 10.9.0 or later, 64-bit processor
#04 – Flick for Netlix: Watch Movie

By Cao Minghui
Category: Video / Free
#05 – AdBlock for Safari

By BETAFISH INC
Category: Productivity / Free
#06 – Shazam
By Shazam Entertainment Ltd.
Category: Music / Free
#07 – Microsoft OneNote

By Microsoft Corporation
Category: Productivity / Free
#08 – MKPlayer - Media Player

By Rocky Sand Studio Ltd.
#09 – Xcode
By Apple
Category: Developer Tools / Free
Compatibility: OS X 10.11.5 or later
#10 – DeskApp for YouTube

By Rocky Sand Studio Ltd.
105
#01 – Minecraft
By Mojang
Category: Games / Price: $6.99
#02 – Heads Up!

By Warner Bros.
#03 – PlantSnap Plant Identiication

By PlantSnap, Inc.
Category: Education / Price: $3.99
#04 – Plague Inc

By Ndemic Creations
#05 – Human Anatomy Atlas 2019

By Argosy Publishing
Category: Medical / Price: $0.99
#06 – Facetune
By Lightricks Ltd.
Category: Photo & Video / Price: $3.99
#07 – Bloons TD 6
By Kaiparasoft Ltd
#08 – Sky Guide

By Fifth Star Labs LLC
Category: Reference / Price: $9.99
#09 – Dark Sky Weather

By jackadam
Category: Weather / Price: $3.99
#10 – Pocket City

By Bobby Li
106
#01 – Logic Pro X
By Apple
Category: Music / Price: $279.99
#02 – Magnet
By CrowdCafé
Category: Productivity / Price: $1.39
#03 – Final Cut Pro

By Apple
Category: Video / Price: $399.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.11.4 or later, 64-bit processor
#04 – Adware Doctor: Malware Remove

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Category: Utilities / Price: $6.99
#05 – iGoOice - Microsoft Oice Edition

By Time Base Technology Limited
Category: Business / Price: $54.99
#06 – The Sims™ 2: Super Collection

By Aspyr Media, Inc.
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By Serif Labs
Category: Photography / Price: $69.99
#08 – Dr. Cleaner Pro

By Trend Micro, Incorporated
#09 – Fibbage XL
By Jackbox Games, Inc.
#10 – Filezilla Pro - FTP SFTP S3

By Business Follows srl
107
by Jason DeVan
Genre: Horror
Released: 2018
Price: $12.99
20 Ratings
Movies
& Rotten Tomatoes
108
TV Shows 43 %
Along Came
the Devil
Ashley (Sydney Sweeney) moves in with

her estranged aunt (Jessica Barth) and after
seeing her dead mother’s ghost, invites a
demonic force into her life unknowingly,
leaving her loved ones ighting for her soul.
FIVE FACTS:
1. This is director Jason DeVan’s irst
feature ilm.
2. Sydney Sweeney plays Eden Spencer in
the TV show The Handmaid’s Tale.
3. Pastor John in the movie is played by Matt
Dallas, who became famous from his TV
show Kyle XY.
4. The original title of Along Came the Devil
was Tell Me Your Name.
5. The movie’s running time is one hour and
Trailer 29 minutes.
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Along Came The Devil - Trailer
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111
The Spy Who
Dumped Me
After discovering the boyfriend who dumped

her was a spy, Audrey (Mila Kunis) and best
friend Morgan (Kate McKinnon) become
entangled in an international conspiracy.
FIVE FACTS:
1. The cafe where Audrey and Morgan look
for Verne (Mirjam Novak) was inspired by the
famous Café Sacher in Vienna.
2. Both main actresses have cited the car
chase scene as the most diicult, but also
the most enjoyable to shoot.
3. Director Susanna Fogel arranged the cast
to go to an escape room to bond.
4. Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon had to
learn some spycraft while ilming the movie.
5. Kunis’ birthday was celebrated during the
ilming of the movie in Budapest; she went
to the Vintage Garden restaurant with her
husband Ashton Kutcher.
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by Susanna Fogel
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2018
Price: $19.99
58 Ratings
Trailer
Rotten Tomatoes
49 %
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Teaser Trailer
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“Backbone”
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Music
Cage to Rattle
Daughtry
Cage to Rattle is the Grammy-winning

Daughtry’s ifth studio album. Featuring rock
grooves, ballads, piano and electro-blues, this
long-player sees Daughtry move into a new
style of music personal to each band member.
Their lyrics remain deeply moving and Chris
Daughtry’s voice is as powerful as ever.
FIVE FACTS:
Genre: Rock
Released: Jul 27, 2018
1. Lead singer Chris Daughtry has three
10 Songs dogs called Chloe, Harlow and Miley.
Price: $9.99
2. Daughtry has been nominated for four
Grammys, including for Best Rock Album.
290 Ratings
3. Chris Daughtry is an active participant
in the ONE campaign, which ights AIDS
and poverty.
4. Cage to Rattle is produced by Jacquire
King, who is known for producing Kings of
Leon, Norah Jones and Tom Waits.
5. Chris Daughtry has described the new
album as more rock-oriented, commenting:
“It’s not such a dramatic departure from
what we did on the irst three albums, as
opposed to the last record, where it was very
pop-driven production.”
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“Deep End”
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Neon
Erra
Neon is Erra’s fourth studio album. Inluenced

by progressive metalcore, Erra have
implemented slow grooves, intense vocals
and exciting guitar rifs into the tracks on
their new album. The album has a mix of
melody and edge, creating a dynamic and
diverse listening experience.
FIVE FACTS:
1. Erra has 7.1k followers on Spotify.
2. Neon has been released on the
independent Summerian Records label.
3. The band is named after the Akkadian
god of war and plague.
4. The band has been active since 2009.
5. Neon is the second album from the group
to feature the vocals of J.T. Cavey.
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“Disarray”
Genre: Metal
Released: Aug 10, 2018
10 Songs
Price: $8.99
78 Ratings
121
“Breach”
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124
‘HUNTER KILLER’
IS A SUBMARINE
MOVIE ON
STEROIDS
There are so many good movies in theaters right

now — thoughtful, artistic, well-acted and well-
told movies that studios preciously save for this
time of year with the distant hope of Oscar gold
in their future. The Gerard Butler submarine
movie ”Hunter Killer ” is not one of those movies
— it is bombastic and garish, ridden with
clichés, preposterous politics and diplomacy,
and frenetic, video game energy. And it so often
so unintentionally silly that it’s actually kind of a
fun watch.
“Das Boot” this is not, nor is it “The Hunt for Red
October,” but you probably already knew that
from name at the top of the marquee. In Gerard
Butler parlance, “Hunter Killer” is the “London
Has Fallen” of submarine movies, genetically
engineered in a lab to entrance the nation’s dads
in basic cable reruns for next 25 years.
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The film starts out confusingly. An American
submarine is torpedoed by a Russian sub in
Russian waters, but back in the U.S., all they
know is it’s disappeared, and they’ve got to go
find it. The man for the job, Rear Admiral John
Fisk (Common) concludes, is Captain Joe Glass
(Butler), who we’re told is not like the other
guys. He “never went to Annapolis.” Why that
makes him especially qualified for this mission
will basically remain a mystery, other than the
fact that he’ll readily disobey orders and go
rogue at any opportunity. He’s seen stuff, guys,
and not in a Naval Academy classroom.
We meet him in the middle of nowhere, in
snowy terrain about to shoot a CGI buck across
a glassy lake with a bow and arrow. But then
he looks to the right of the buck and sees its
CGI family close by and decides to lower his
weapon. This moment lets the audience know
a few things: a) That Joe Glass has empathy
and b) that this movie has no subtlety. The
next thing we know a military helicopter is
swooping down to pick him up and take him
to his sub.
Their mission gets even more puzzling, as a

Russian sub hidden in the crevasse of an iceberg
starts firing on them. Back in the U.S., NSA worker
Jayne Norquist (Linda Cardellini, one of three
women in this film), decides Fisk needs to send
a ground team (Toby Stephens, Michael Trucco,
Ryan McPartlin and Zane Holt) to Russia, which
ends up feeling like a Peter Berg short film
accidentally cut into a submarine movie. It all
eventually comes together when they realize
that there’s been a coup on the Russian president,
but why anyone makes any of these decisions
prior to this is just baffling to say the least.
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Also no one seems to be able to communicate
with anyone else, like when Captain Glass
decides to save a Russian captain played by the
late Michael Nyqvist, except in an extremely
pivotal moment that makes you wonder why no
one did this earlier.
Diplomacy conversations really go out the

window when the Americans decide —
against the protest of Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Charles Donnegan (Gary
Oldman, for some reason) — decide their
best option is to rescue the Russian president
from his own soldiers and not tell anyone
about it. The plot and the international politics
leave a lot to be desired, although they do end
up manufacturing a silly but effective stand off
by the end.
Based on the book “Firing Point,” this is the

first Hollywood film from South African
director Donovan Marsh, and he does cook
up some captivating action set pieces, like
navigating a submarine through a jord of
mines, or even just an old fashioned, ridiculously
over the top shootout, which may have you
laughing, rolling your eyes or even cheering (as
a fair amount of people were in my screening),
but it’s never boring.
“Hunter Killer,” a Summit Entertainment release,

is rated R by the Motion Picture Association
of America for “violence and some language.”
Running time: 120 minutes. Two stars out of four.
MPAA Definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying

parent or adult guardian.
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‘JOHNNY ENGLISH’
SEQUEL IS AN ODE TO
LOW-TECH CHARM
There’s nothing really new or fresh or bold

in “Johnny English Strikes Again,” the third
installment of Rowan Atkinson’s bumbling-spy
saga/James Bond spoof.
And for some of us, maybe that’s not such a

terrible thing. Sometimes you don’t want the hip
new cocktail. Sometimes you just want the same
beer at the same temperature at the same time
in the same comfy chair. (Especially these days,
perhaps, but we digress.)
So when Atkinson’s Johnny, on the run in a

Scottish castle, winds up in a room of decorative
suits of armor, you start chuckling preemptively.
Because of course you know he’s going to hide
in one of those suits, and of course you know
he’s going to have a massively difficult time
staying upright, and, well ... it’ll be funny. Not
innovative or thought-provoking, and certainly
not snarky or biting. Just funny.
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If that’s not enough, we also have Emma
Thompson as the British prime minister.
Thompson as anything at all would be a plus, but
watching her channel her inner Maggie Thatcher
— and mix in a little Theresa May — may have
you immediately bemoaning the fact she only
got to play a prime minister’s SISTER in “Love
Actually.” What a waste!
In any case, we begin a week before the PM is to
host a crucial G12 summit in Scotland. Things are
not going well. A major security breach at MI17
exposes the identity of every British secret agent.
To replace them, they call in aging former agents.
Enter Johnny, who’s been spending his days
teaching schoolkids the essentials of Bondian
spycraft (seduction via martini, for example).
He’s a fish out of water. In a high-tech world, he’s
lower than low-tech; he’s no-tech. He rejects
even a smartphone. All he wants is a gun, and
a dusty old Aston Martin to drive. He’s joined
in this venture by his erstwhile partner from
the first movie in 2003, loyal sidekick Bough (a
pleasant Ben Miller.)
But, you ask, who’s the villain? Well, that would be
technology itself, in the form of a (truly annoying)
Silicon Valley billionaire smartypants — you
know the type — named Jason Volta (Jake Lacy,
in a one-dimensional role). Jason has completely
charmed the tech-challenged prime minister,
who is unaware of his sinister hidden goals.
But he can’t track an enemy who has no digital
footprint. At least that’s Johnny’s theory. He’s
untraceable, but he also can’t make a phone
call. His low-tech strategy extends to everything:
He has a mixtape on a cassette! His spy gadget
works with a floppy disc! It’s unclear if kids in the
audience will know what these things are.
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But they likely will crack up when Johnny
tests out a virtual reality headset and ends up
wandering into streets and stores and attacking
people randomly. They’ll also laugh, as will
most anyone, when Johnny takes an energy pill
instead of a sleeping pill and hits the dance floor
for an entire night, posing and preening as only
Atkinson, still agile at 63, can.
Sure, the scene is telegraphed about an hour

ahead of time. But that doesn’t mean it’s not
entertaining. At these moments, director David
Kerr does the logical thing, which is to just get
out of the way and let Atkinson perform.
The finale comes at that Scottish castle at Loch
Ness, where smarmy Jason makes his intentions
known — they’re rather confusing, actually, but
they definitely involve the internet — and it’s up
to no-tech Johnny to save the day.
You may forget the barely serviceable plot on the

way out of the theater. But you’ll likely remember
when Atkinson gets a cocktail umbrella stuck in
his nose, while trying to woo gorgeous — and
dramatically named — Ophelia (Olga Kurylenko),
an enemy agent. Or when he’s trying to defy
gravity in that darned suit of armor.
It’s not complicated. But there are worse things in

life than 88 minutes of uncomplicated chuckling.
“Johnny English Strikes Again,” a Focus Features

release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture
Association of America “for some action violence,
rude humor, language and brief nudity.” Running
time: 88 minutes. Two stars out of four.
MPAA definition of PG: Parental guidance suggested. Some material

may not be suitable for children.
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138
NETFLIX TO BORROW
ANOTHER $2B TO PAY ITS
PROGRAMMING BILLS
Netflix plans to borrow another $2 billion to

help pay for the exclusive series and movies
that its management credits for helping its
video streaming service reel in millions of new
subscribers during the past five years.
The additional debt load announced Monday
isn’t a surprise. Netflix needs more cash because
it has been spending more money than its
business generates since its expansion into
original programming with the 2013 release of
“House of Cards.”
Netflix expects to burn through $3 billion this
year. The $2 billion that Netflix plans to raise in
a bond offering will be lopped onto it existing
debt of $11.8 billion. That includes another $1.9
billion debt offering that Netflix completed
earlier this year.
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The borrowing binge appears to be paying off.
Netflix has gained nearly 100 million subscribers
since September 2013, including 7 million in the
past quarter. The company recently predicted it
will add another 9.4 million subscribers by the
end of this year.
The Los Gatos, California, company believes all
its spending on award-winning programming
will help it build an insurmountable lead in
video streaming as other major entertainment
companies such as Walt Disney Co. join the fray
with a current crop of competitors that include
Amazon, Hulu and HBO.
Investors have been betting heavily on Netflix to

win. The company’s stock is worth seven times
more than it was five years ago, to give Netflix a
market value of about $146 billion. The shares
climbed $3 to $335.67.
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ELON MUSK SAYS
HIS TRANSIT TEST
TUNNEL CLOSE
TO COMPLETION
Elon Musk says he’s planning to offer the public

free rides through a tunnel he bored under
a Los Angeles suburb to test a new type of
transportation system.
In a series of tweets, Musk said the tunnel is

almost complete and there will be an opening
event on the night of Dec. 10 and free rides for
the public the next day.
The tunnel runs about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers)

under the streets of Hawthorne, where Musk’s
SpaceX headquarters is located.
Musk has described a system in which vehicles
or people pods are moved on electrically
powered platforms called skates at speeds up to
155 mph (250 kph).
Musk wants to build a tunnel across western Los
Angeles and another between a Metro subway
line and Dodger Stadium.
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Image: Bret Hartman
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YAHOO TO
PAY $50M,
OTHER COSTS
FOR MASSIVE
SECURITY BREACH
Yahoo has agreed to pay $50 million in

damages and provide two years of free credit-
monitoring services to 200 million people
whose email addresses and other personal
information were stolen as part of the biggest
security breach in history.
The restitution hinges on federal court approval

of a settlement filed in a 2-year-old lawsuit
seeking to hold Yahoo accountable for digital
burglaries that occurred in 2013 and 2014, but
weren’t disclosed until 2016.
It adds to the financial fallout from a security
lapse that provided a mortifying end to Yahoo’s
existence as an independent company and
former CEO Marissa Mayer’s six-year reign.
Yahoo revealed the problem after it had already
negotiated a $4.83 billion deal to sell its digital
services to Verizon Communications. It then had
to discount that price by $350 million to reflect
its tarnished brand and the specter of other
potential costs stemming from the breach.
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Verizon will now pay for one half of the
settlement cost, with the other half paid by
Altaba Inc., a company that was set up to hold
Yahoo’s investments in Asian companies and
other assets after the sale. Altaba already paid
a $35 million fine imposed by the Securities
and Exchange Commission for Yahoo’s delay in
disclosing the breach to investors.
About 3 billion Yahoo accounts were hit by

hackers that included some linked to Russia by
the FBI . The settlement reached in a San Jose,
California, court covers about 1 billion of those
accounts held by an estimated 200 million people
in the U.S. and Israel from 2012 through 2016.
Claims for a portion of the $50 million fund

can be submitted by any eligible Yahoo
accountholder who suffered losses resulting
from the security breach. The costs can include
such things as identity theft, delayed tax refunds
or other problems linked to having had personal
information pilfered during the Yahoo break-ins.
The fund will compensate Yahoo accountholders

at a rate of $25 per hour for time spent dealing
with issues triggered by the security breach,
according to the preliminary settlement. Those
with documented losses can ask for up to 15
hours of lost time, or $375. Those who can’t
document losses can file claims seeking up to
five hours, or $125, for their time spent dealing
with the breach.
Yahoo accountholders who paid $20 to $50
annually for a premium email account will be
eligible for a 25 percent refund.
The free credit monitoring service from AllClear
could end up being the most valuable part
of the settlement for most accountholders.
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The lawyers representing the accountholders
pegged the retail value of AllClear’s credit-
monitoring service at $14.95 per month, or
about $359 for two years — but it’s unlikely
Yahoo will pay that rate. The settlement didn’t
disclose how much Yahoo had agreed to pay
AllClear for covering affected accountholders.
The lawyers for Yahoo’s accountholders praised
the settlement as a positive outcome, given the
uncertainty of what might have happened had
the case headed to trial.
Estimates of damages caused by security
breaches vary widely, with experts asserting
the value of personal information held in email
accounts can range from $1 to $8 per account.
Those figures suggest Yahoo could have faced
a bill of more than $1 billion had it lost the case.
But Yahoo had disputed those damages

estimates and noted many of its
accountholders submitted false information
about their birthdates, names and other parts
of their lives when they set up their email.
The lawyers representing Yahoo
accountholders have a big incentive to get
the settlement approved. Yahoo will pay them
up to $37.5 million in fees and expenses if it
goes through.
Oath, the Verizon subsidiary that now oversees

Yahoo, declined to comment.
A hearing to approve the preliminary
settlement is scheduled for Nov. 29 before
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose. If
approved, notices will be emailed to affected
accountholders and published in People and
National Geographic magazines.
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HACKERS BREACH
HEALTHCARE.GOV
SYSTEM, GET DATA
ON 75,000
A government computer system that interacts

with HealthCare.gov was hacked earlier this
month, compromising the sensitive personal
data of some 75,000 people, officials said.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
made the announcement late in the afternoon
ahead of a weekend, a time slot agencies often
use to release unfavorable developments.
Officials said the hacked system was shut down
and technicians are working to restore it before
sign-up season starts Nov. 1 for health care
coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
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About 10 million people currently have private
coverage under former President Barack
Obama’s health care law.
Consumers applying for subsidized coverage
have to provide extensive personal information,
including Social Security numbers, income, and
citizenship or legal immigration status.
The system that was hacked is used by insurance
agents and brokers to directly enroll customers.
All other sign-up systems are working.
CMS spokesman Johnathan Monroe said

“nothing happened” to the HealthCare.gov
website used by the general public. “This
concerns the agent and broker portal, which is
not accessible to the general public,” he said.
Federal law enforcement has been alerted, and
affected customers will be notified and offered
credit protection.
President Donald Trump promised to repeal

“Obamacare” but failed.
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SHALLOW
LADY GAGA & BRADLEY COOPER
ALWAYS REMEMBER US THIS WAY

LADY GAGA
HAPPIER
MARSHMELLO & BASTILLE
WITHOUT ME
HALSEY
SUNFLOWER
(SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE)
POST MALONE & SWAE LEE
HIGH HOPES
PANIC! AT THE DISCO
I’LL NEVER LOVE AGAIN (FILM VERSION)

LADY GAGA
NATURAL
IMAGINE DRAGONS
YOUNGBLOOD
5 SECONDS OF SUMMER
GOOD AS YOU
KANE BROWN
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MONO.
RM
A STAR IS BORN SOUNDTRACK

ANTHEM OF THE PEACEFUL ARMY

GRETA VAN FLEET
EVOLUTION (DELUXE)
DISTURBED
SUNCITY
KHALID
A STAR IS BORN SOUNDTRACK

TAKE.1 ARE YOU THERE?

MONSTA X
I AM YOU
STRAY KIDS
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

(ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)
VARIOUS ARTISTS
LOOK UP CHILD
LAUREN DAIGLE
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158
SICKO MODE (FEAT. DRAKE)
TRAVIS SCOTT
THRILLER
MICHAEL JACKSON
GIRLS LIKE YOU (FEAT. CARDI B)

MAROON 5
GOOD AS YOU
KANE BROWN
TAKI TAKI
(FEAT. SELENA GOMEZ, OZUNA & CARDI B)
DJ SNAKE
FALL ON ME
ANDREA BOCELLI & MATTEO BOCELLI
HAPPIER
MARSHMELLO & BASTILLE
UNDER PRESSURE
QUEEN
WE WILL ROCK YOU

QUEEN
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

QUEEN
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WARNING SIGNS
THE WALKING DEAD, SEASON 9
BLOW UP
THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ORANGE COUNTY, SEASON 13
THE MAGIC RAKE

MADAM SECRETARY, SEASON 5
ROSA
DOCTOR WHO, SEASON 11
CONNECTING FLIGHTS
MANIFEST, SEASON 1
LONGBOW HUNTERS
ARROW, SEASON 7
THE GERM
THE RESIDENT, SEASON 2
MAKING AMENDS
TEEN MOM, VOL. 21
LET THIS MOTHER OUT

CHARMED, SEASON 1
DOSED
9-1-1, SEASON 2
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EVERY BREATH
NICHOLAS SPARKS
THE STORY OF ARTHUR TRULUV

ELIZABETH BERG
NORA ROBERTS MYSTERY BOX SET

NORA ROBERTS
HOLY GHOST
JOHN SANDFORD
GIRL, WASH YOUR FACE

RACHEL HOLLIS
RED WAR
VINCE FLYNN & KYLE MILLS
DESPERATE MEASURES
STUART WOODS
WINTER IN PARADISE
ELIN HILDERBRAND
DEAR JANE
KENDALL RYAN
KILLING THE SS
BILL O’REILLY & MARTIN DUGARD
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DESPERATE & DUPED?
GOFUNDME MEANS BIG
BUCKS FOR DUBIOUS CARE
People seeking dubious, potentially harmful

treatment for cancer and other ailments
raised nearly $7 million over two years from
crowdfunding sites, a study found.
Echoing recent research on campaigns for
stem cell therapies, the findings raise more
questions about an increasingly popular way
to help pay for costly, and sometimes unproven,
medical care.
Soliciting money on GoFundMe and other

sites eliminates doctors, hospitals, insurance
companies and other “gatekeepers” that can be a
barrier to expensive treatment, said lead author
Dr. Ford Vox, an ethicist and brain injury expert
at Shepherd Center rehabilitation hospital
in Atlanta. He calls it “the democratization of
economic power through social media” but says
it can pose an ethical dilemma.
165
Online fundraising “has a big bright side” when
it helps patients pay for legitimate care, he said.
“Communities are really being able to rally
around people in rough times. That’s fantastic, but
there is this very clear dark side” when treatments
sought are worthless or even dangerous.
His study was published this week in the Journal

of the American Medical Association.
GoFundMe says campaigns for medical

care are increasing and are among the most
numerous on its site. They include solicitations
for conventional treatment and for unproven
alternative therapies.
“We always encourage people to fully research
whatever it is they are raising money for and to
be absolutely transparent on their GoFundMe
page, so donors can make an informed decision
on what they’re donating to,” GoFundMe said in
an emailed statement.
The researchers examined campaigns posted

from November 2015 through mid-December
2017, mostly on GoFundMe. They focused on five
treatments sought in about 1,000 campaigns:
homeopathy or naturopathy for cancer;
hyperbaric oxygen for brain injuries; stem cells
for brain or spinal cord injuries; and long-term
antibiotics for persistent Lyme disease.
While some patients swear they’ve benefited

from some of the treatments, there is no rigorous
scientific evidence that any of them work for the
conditions involved, the researchers said.
The most numerous were solicitations for
homeopathy or naturopathy for cancer — 474
requests seeking more than $12 million. About
one-quarter of that was raised.
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Image: Jacob Lund
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Homeopathic products typically contain heavily
diluted drugs, vitamins or minerals said to
promote healing, although some have been
found to contain toxic amounts. Naturopathy,
another alternative medicine practice,
sometimes uses homeopathic products, herbs
and dietary supplements or body cleanses.
Michelle Drapeau has raised about $7,000
on GoFundMe for homeopathy and other
alternative remedies since being diagnosed with
advanced stomach cancer in February 2017. The
45-year-old investment banker from West Palm
Beach, Florida, credits them with keeping her
alive since she stopped c hemotherapy over a
year ago.
“I wanted to make sure I explored every and all
options,” Drapeau said. “It’s vital for everyone to
have that opportunity.”
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Dr. Leonard Lichtenfeld, the American Cancer
Society’s deputy chief medical officer, said it’s
important to consider what may drive some
patients to turn to unproven remedies. U.S.
health care costs are exorbitant and many
patients run out of money trying to pay them.
And despite considerable progress against

cancer and other illnesses, conventional
treatment can’t cure every patient, he noted.
“We should not be judgmental and come out
and say this is terrible,” Lichtenfeld said.
“No one wants to hear, ‘You have cancer,’ and
especially no one wants to hear that there’s
no treatment available that can help you,” he
said. “You begin to understand why people
may turn to unproven treatments and you
can understand why others reach out to try to
support them.”
“What we need to do is to better inform, even

better care for our patients and their families, so
they don’t feel this is what they need to do.”
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US BRANDS FALTER
IN CONSUMER
REPORTS AUTO
RELIABILITY SURVEY
U.S. auto companies such as General Motors,

Tesla and Ford faltered this year in Consumer
Reports’ reliability rankings as readers reported
more mechanical trouble with their vehicles.
The magazine and website said all U.S.-based

brands fell to the bottom half of 29 brands in
the rankings. Lexus and Toyota were once
again at the top.
Consumer Reports got more than 500,000

responses to the annual survey of its subscribers,
and it uses the data from the 2000-2017 model
years to predict reliability of 2019 vehicles.
The survey released Wednesday found
that readers are having more trouble with
technology designed to increase fuel economy
than they are with electronic infotainment
systems, which long had been a bugaboo for
automakers and vehicle owners.
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Image: Dario Pignatelli
The mechanical problems with smaller

turbocharged engines and transmissions
with multiple gears could leave people
stranded rather than just frustrated with voice
recognition or other technology, said Jake
Fisher, director of auto testing at the magazine.
“It’s worse for the consumer, absolutely,” Fisher

said. “I would be happy to not be able to pair
my phone five times than get stuck on the side
of the road once.”
Mazda, Subaru, Kia, Infiniti, Audi, BMW, Mini

and Hyundai rounded out the top 10 auto
brands. Volvo had the worst reliability followed
by Cadillac, Tesla, Ram and GMC. Asian or
Korean brands took seven of the top 10 spots.
Tesla dropped six places from last year and
now ranks 27th. GM’s Buick, normally a top-10
finisher, tumbled 11 spots to No. 19. Ford was
the highest-ranked U.S. brand but fell three
places to No. 18.
The domestic brands largely were plagued

by problems with newly introduced models,
Fisher said.
“Traditionally it’s the older models that have the

best reliability. As they cycle through the fleet,
we’re seeing a drop,” Fisher said.
In the case of Tesla, the Model S luxury electric

car fell from “above average” reliability to
“below average” as readers reported trouble
with the air suspension and door handles
that extend from the body when the driver
approaches. The low reliability score cost the
Model S its “Recommended Buy” status with
the magazine. Tesla’s Model X SUV remained
“much worse than average” due to problems
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with its falcon-wing doors and touch screen,
while the simpler Model 3 mass-market sedan
ranked “average” in reliability.
Tesla introduced more complexity into the
Model S by offering all-wheel-drive and air
suspension standard, Fisher said. The company
makes hardware and software changes weekly,
raising the risk of problems, he said.
General Motors’ brands were hurt by

mechanical problems including transmissions
on its newly introduced large crossover SUVs
such as the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse
and GMC Acadia. Buick’s Enclave was the
most reliable vehicle the brand had until the
redesign, and now it’s the worst, dragging
down Buick’s score, Fisher said.
Cadillac, he said, pushes the edge on new

consumer-pleasing technology, but that causes
reliability problems.
Almost the opposite are Toyota and its Lexus

luxury brand, which have taken the top two
slots for the sixth straight year, Fisher said.
Toyota is slow to introduce new technology,
only now offering Apple CarPlay when other
automakers did it years ago, he said.
“If you’re slow to the market, you’re slow with

technology, that’s the way you do get reliability
and that’s how Toyota is so consistent,” he said.
Consumer Reports said it didn’t have enough
data to rank Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Jaguar, Land
Rover, Maserati, Mitsubishi or Smart.
The magazine gives more weight to mechanical
and safety issues than minor problems like
voice recognition or wind noise.
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TRUMP SPACE
FORCE PLAN IS
GROUNDED IN
REAL NEEDS
BUT HAZY
With his demand that the Pentagon create a

new military service — a Space Force to assure
“American dominance in space” — President
Donald Trump has injected urgency into a
long-meandering debate over the best way to
protect U.S. interests in space, both military
and commercial.
At the same time, his approach has left many
struggling to understand the basics, such as
what a Space Force would do and how much it
might cost.
The Pentagon is expected to have enough
details filled out by early next year to include
a Space Force plan in its 2020 budget request
to Congress. Until then, the idea has taken
on a life of its own at Trump’s political rallies,
powered at least in part by his conflating of
the nation’s civilian space program with the
military’s separate role of providing space-based
navigation and communications satellites.
179
At a June rally in Minnesota, for example, Trump
alluded to his decision in December 2017 to
refocus the civilian space program to human
exploration as a first step toward returning an
astronaut to the Moon. This prompted some in
the crowd to chant, “Space Force, Space Force!”
Trump responded by ticking off the names of
the current military services and adding, “Now
we’re going to have the Space Force. We need it.”
Earlier this month Trump told a rally in Kentucky,
“One of the biggest applause I get wherever I go
is when I talk about the Space Force.”
But just what is this thing?

Some may think it would assemble a razzle-
dazzle new army for the heavens that would
deploy soldiers in space or arm astronauts with
galactic superweapons. Analysts say the reality
is that building space muscle is more about
reordering the way the Pentagon already uses
space than about combat.
In fits and starts, the military has been trying

for decades to reorganize and accelerate
technological advances in space. Some blame
the Air Force, which has had the lead, for
underinvesting in space because it prefers
spending on warplanes.
Details are still in play, but the main idea is
this: find more effective ways to defend U.S.
interests in space, especially the constellations
of satellites that U.S. ground, sea and air forces
rely on for navigation, communications and
surveillance. These roles make them increasingly
tempting military targets even as China and
Russia work on ways to disrupt, disable and even
destroy American satellites.
180
181
182
“This isn’t science fiction. This isn’t about creating
space marines or some expeditionary space
force that is going to go out and conquer the
universe,” says Todd Harrison, director of the
aerospace security project at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies. “This is simply
a reorganization” of existing space assets so that
they can be use more effectively in a unified
chain of command with one person in charge.
Still, questions abound as some in the
Pentagon talk about someday basing anti-
missile weapons in space.
Would a Space Force, which has yet to

be authorized by Congress, consume an
intelligence agency such as the National
Reconnaissance Office, responsible for building
and operating reconnaissance satellites? What
about the Missile Defense Agency, which runs
ground-based anti-missile systems that rely on
space to defend U.S. territory?
Also to be determined is how it would connect,
if at all, to the security policy goals of U.S.
military allies and to U.S. civilian space entities to
realize Trump’s declared vision of “gleaming new
spaceships” built to “conquer the unknown?”
Trump publicly raised the prospect of a Space

Force in March. In seemingly offhanded
comments to Marines in California he said, “You
know, I was saying it the other day, because
we’re doing a tremendous amount of work in
space. I said maybe we need a new force. We’ll
call it the Space Force. And I was not really
serious. Then I said, ‘What a great idea.’”
Three months later, on June 18, the “great idea”
became an order. Trump told the Pentagon to
immediately get started on building a Space Force.
Image: Sandy Huffaker
183
Since then, “Space Force” has become a staple at
Trump political rallies.
William D. Hartung, director of the arms and

security project at the Center for International
Policy and a longtime Pentagon critic, has
written that “Space Force” could become the
rhetorical equivalent of “the Wall” — “a big idea
that appeals to Trump’s base but would be
wildly impractical and hugely expensive
to implement.”
Just how expensive it might be is a matter

of debate.
The Air Force has estimated that it might

cost $13 billion in the first five years. Others,
including Harrison, say that’s an exaggeration.
In late August, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said
he was awaiting staff work on an estimate to be
included in next year’s defense budget request.
Tom Nichols, an author and professor of national

security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College at
Newport, Rhode Island, said no one should think
a Space Force will produce an economic windfall
of space contracts.
“People who think a ‘space force’ will create

a new economic boom don’t realize that our
space infrastructure already exists,” he wrote an
email, stressing that he was speaking in a private
capacity. “Any additional spending will likely be
concentrated in research and knowledge-centric
areas, not depressed manufacturing states.”
More to the point, he wrote, new weaponry is
not in the offing.
“Put simply: We are not going to start building
Klingon battle cruisers or the Moonraker fleet in
West Virginia or Ohio.”
184
185
186
Misconceptions aside, Harrison and many He likens the Space Force proposal to the
other defense analysts argue that a Space creation of the Air Force in 1947. It was not built
Force is needed. from scratch. It was made a separate military
department after having resided in the Army as
In Harrison’s view, it’s about consolidating
the Army Air Corps.
authority and responsibility for national
security space in a single chain of command: Although a Space Force would require its own
reorganization, in other words, and building a civilian and military leadership and presumably
bigger cadre of space strategy professionals. He its own uniforms and additional personnel, other
argues that the space workforce now is steps to consolidate the space chain of command
so scattered across the military services and would be bureaucratic.
the intelligence agencies that it has not been In fact, one of the main moves already in motion
possible to create a viable career path that will is to recreate U.S. Space Command, which existed
attract the right people. from 1985 to 2002, when it was disbanded
to establish U.S. Northern Command in the
aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Although
Space Command went away, its functions
did not. They were absorbed by U.S. Strategic
Command, and the Air Force retained its lead
role in space through Air Force Space Command.
187
Image: Gene J. Puskar
188
MBL: NEW
TECHNOLOGY
ONLY ADDS TO
BASEBALL’S CULTURE
OF PARANOIA
It probably felt like a cutting-edge caper at the

time: The New York Giants, using an elaborate
spyglass-and-buzzer system, would have the
opposing team’s signs relayed from their center-
field clubhouse at the Polo Grounds to the
bullpen and then to the batter, passing along
valuable information during the team’s pursuit
of the 1951 pennant.
The question nowadays is whether there’s an
app for that.
Stealing signs is as much a part of baseball

tradition as stealing bases, but the technology
available now could open a whole new frontier
of competitive sleuthing. The latest flare-up
came when a man associated with the Houston
189
Astros was pointing his cellphone into opposing
dugouts during playoff games against Cleveland
and Boston. The Astros said they were just trying
to defend themselves against any suspicious
activity from opponents.
There’s clearly plenty of paranoia to go around.
“The game is so ultra-competitive and there’s

so small margins between really good teams
and really good players and there’s a lot at
stake,” Houston manager AJ Hinch said before
losing to the Red Sox in the AL Championship
Series. “So we do have to find a healthy place
for everyone to be comfortable moving forward
competitively because it’s a bigger topic than
even one instance.”
The art of sign stealing ranges from the

mundane — a baserunner trying to decode the
catcher’s signals and let the batter know what’s
coming — to more complex spying schemes.
Even 19th century technology could apparently
be useful.
In his 2007 book “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball,”

Derek Zumsteg mentions an 1898 incident in
Philadelphia when a visiting player found a
buried wire in the area around third base.
“The wire ran all the way to the home team’s

clubhouse in the outfield,” Zumsteg wrote,
“where a player would sit with binoculars and
signal the pitch by setting the ground under the
third base coach shaking, and the coach would
in turn alert the batter.”
The 1951 Giants famously beat out the Dodgers
for the National League pennant on Bobby
Thomson’s playoff-winning homer . A half-
century later, New York’s sign-stealing system
190
Image: Mike Ekern
191
Image: Thearon W. Henderson
192
was laid bare in a Wall Street Journal story that
quoted members of that team. The bullpen
would receive the signs from the clubhouse via a
buzzer system. Catcher Sal Yvars said he relayed
them to hitters.
Fast forward to the present era, and the
possibilities for surreptitious surveillance
seem endless.
“If they’re in the dugout, and they’re in there

trying to steal our signs, I think that’s part of
the game,” said Dave Dombrowski, president of
baseball operations for the Red Sox. “If you’re
doing electronic devices, that’s against the
rules. We were penalized last year.”
The Red Sox were indeed fined last year for
using an Apple Watch while trying to steal
signs from the New York Yankees. Major
League Baseball says before this postseason,
teams contacted the commissioner’s office
about sign stealing and “the inappropriate use
of video equipment” — and it wasn’t just one
team that was the target of those concerns.
This week’s controversy brought suspicion
upon the Astros — and Houston in turn
expressed its own suspicions of other teams.
MLB essentially agreed with the Astros’
explanation, saying an investigation of recent
incidents concluded “that an Astros employee
was monitoring the field to ensure that the
opposing club was not violating any rules.”
Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow said his
team always has its guard up.
“There’s a lot of technology in ballparks these
days, video cameras and high-speed cameras
and high-magnification cameras,” Luhnow said.
193
194
“When we go into an opposing ballpark, we
tend to look around and make sure that we
don’t see any suspicious activity. We’ve been
doing that as a matter of course
for a while.”
Watch any game, and you can find evidence of
the lengths teams might go if they’re worried
about who is watching. It’s one thing for a
catcher to switch to more complex signs to
avoid giving away the next pitch to a runner on
second — but now a team might do that even if
the bases are empty.
“We utilize multiple signs with nobody on base.

Other teams do that as well,” Hinch said. “We
ask a lot out of our catchers. We have 12, 13,
sometimes 14 pitchers on a roster that can all
have different signs and different sequences.”
One way to avoid having signs stolen is for

the catcher and pitcher to have a private
meeting — but mound visits were slowing the
game so much that baseball put a limit on them.
There have already been seven passed balls in
the postseason this year — there were six in the
whole 2017 postseason — so perhaps pitchers
and catchers are getting crossed up more often.
For decades, sign stealing was a mysterious,

almost charming addition to baseball’s
culture, but too much suspicion can certainly
hurt the sport.
“I think there is a paranoia about what you’re

doing competitively to try to be your best,”
Hinch said. “And when teams are curious
about us or we’re curious about other teams, it’s
largely a distraction away from the best
part of the game, which is on the field
with the players.”
195

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iPHONE XR:

AN ENTRY LEVEL M ODEL

POPULARITY: APPLE OFFERS

1ST US PUBLIC HOLOCAUST M EM ORIAL M ERGES PAST WITH NEW TECH 34

TIM COOK BACKS PRIVACY LAWS, WARNS DATA BEING ‘WEAPONIZED’ 74

FACEBOOK BEYOND FACEBOOK? INSTAGRAM , M ESSENGER STEP UP 82

M ICHIGAN M AN GETS JOB THROUGH TECH INCUBATOR 90

WALM ART M AKES IM PROVEM ENTS TO THIRD PARTY M ARKETPLACE 98

OCULUS CO FOUNDER BRENDAN IRIBE JOINS EXODUS FROM FACEBOOK 100

‘HUNTER KILLER’ IS A SUBM ARINE M OVIE ON STEROIDS 124

‘JOHNNY ENGLISH’ SEQUEL IS AN ODE TO LOW TECH CHARM 130

HACKERS BREACH HEALTHCARE.GOV SYSTEM , GET DATA ON 75,000 150

US BRANDS FALTER IN CONSUM ER REPORTS AUTO RELIABILITY SURVEY 172

M BL: NEW TECHNOLOGY ONLY ADDS TO BASEBALL’S CULTURE OF PARANOIA 188

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