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SAMSUNG TO OFFER DIGITAL ASSISTANT SERVICE IN GALAXY S8 06 NEW RECALL HEADACHE FOR SAMSUNG: 3M WASHING MACHINES 10 THE HIGHLIGHT OF GOOGLE’S DAYDREAM VR IS ... ITS CONTROLLER 16 TWITTER EXECUTIVE ADAM BAIN HEADING OUT AS COMPANY FALTERS 19 GERMANY EXPANDS DIESEL PROBE TO INCLUDE VW BOARD CHAIRMAN 22 ‘MOZART 225’ CONTAINS ALL OF HIS MUSIC IN 200-CD BOX SET 26 CHINA SAYS NEW ROCKET BRINGS SPACE STATION PLANS CLOSER 32 RUSSIA TO BLOCK LINKEDIN AFTER COURT RULING ON USER DATA 38 TRUMP WIN RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT UN CLIMATE DEAL 40 TESLA TO END UNLIMITED FREE USE OF SUPERCHARGING STATIONS 48 iOS VS ANDROID: A BATTLE THAT’S FAR FROM OVER 54 FAR-RIGHT POLISH GROUPS PROTEST FACEBOOK PROFILE BLOCKAGES 68 CHINA APPROVES LAW TO TIGHTEN CONTROL ON INTERNET USE 72 REPORT OF DIFFERENT SAMSUNG PHONE MODEL EXPLODING 74 Q&A: REDMAYNE ON FINALLY GETTING HIS HARRY POTTER SHOT 78 TESLA INKS DEAL TO BUY GERMAN MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING FIRM 80 REVIEW: ‘ARRIVAL’ LUMBERS, AND THAT’S NOT JUST THE ALIENS 82 iTUNES REVIEW 88 BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘DOCTOR STRANGE’ CONJURES $85.1 MILLION 104 THE EVOLUTION OF AMY ADAMS ON VIEW IN ‘ARRIVAL,’ ‘NOCTURNAL’ 114 MICHAEL KEATON TO PLAY VILLAIN IN UPCOMING SPIDER-MAN REBOOT 122 SALES FOR TRUMP BOOKS JUMP AFTER ELECTION 123 INTERNET FREEZES FOR ‘MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE’ CRAZE 124 ON ‘MARS’ SERIES, A MISSION UNFOLDS AS BOTH DRAMA AND DOC 126 INDIA TRYING TO FIX HACKED WEBSITES OF 7 OF ITS EMBASSIES 128 LYNN STALMASTER TO ACCEPT FIRST ACADEMY AWARD FOR CASTING 132 UN CLIMATE CHIEF: NO DOUBT WORLD WILL SHIFT TO LOW EMISSIONS 134 GEMALTO CEO PROMISES GROWTH AFTER PROFIT WARNING FEARS 140
SAMSUNG TO OFFER DIGITAL ASSISTANT SERVICE IN GALAXY S8
Samsung Electronics said Sunday it will offer an artificial intelligence assistant service in the upcoming flagship smartphone, as the South Korean firm seeks recovery from its global smartphone recalls. The Galaxy S8 will let users order food or perform other tasks without going through a third-party application but by simply asking the phone’s virtual assistant, Samsung said in a statement. The artificial intelligence service will also be made available in Samsung’s other consumer electronics products, such as refrigerators. The company declined to disclose what specific tasks the S8 phone will perform through its artificial intelligence feature. Samsung is expected to unveil the next iteration for its flagship Galaxy device in spring as it has typically done in the past. Sales of the Galaxy S8 will be crucial for the recovery of Samsung’s 6
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mobile business, which saw its latest quarterly profit nearly wiped out by two global recalls of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. Samsung estimates it has lost at least $5.3 billion as it discontinued the model, which overheated and caught fire. The company said last month that it has not figured out what went wrong with the Note 7 phones. The South Korean company joined the race to create the digital assistant service when it acquired in October Viv Labs Inc., a Silicon Valley startup launched by the same entrepreneurs who sold Siri to Apple. Past and current Samsung phones offer a voice assistant service called “S Voice” developed internally, but the feature did not gain much traction. Samsung’s acquisition of the Silicon Valley firm was seen as its taking another step to seek independence from Google, which offers its brand of virtual assistant service in Androidpowered devices.
Executives at Samsung and Viv Labs said that the biggest difference between the existing digital assistant and the one they are jointly developing is that the latter will be an “open AI platform,” meaning that third-party developers will be able to offer their services through Samsung’s AI platform. “Our Galaxy smartphones don’t provide services that enable consumers to order pizza or coffee, but does provide third party applications. But the new AI platform will enable consumers to do things that they would usually do through a separate third party application,” Samsung’s statement said. 9
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NEW RECALL HEADACHE FOR SAMSUNG: 3M WASHING MACHINES
In another black eye for one of the world’s leading consumer brands, U.S. authorities announced a recall last week of nearly 3 million Samsung washing machines following several reports of injuries - including a broken jaw - due to “excessive vibration.” The recall comes a month after the South Korean manufacturer recalled millions of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from consumers around the world, because of a mysterious problem that caused the phones’ batteries to overheat and catch fire. Since then, the company stopped producing that device entirely, while estimating the debacle will cost it $5.3 billion. Samsung said Friday that its washing machine recall would also extend to models sold in Canada, although it said no injuries had been reported in that country. 11
The company launched an earlier, unrelated recall of washing machines in Australia in 2013, after authorities said an electrical problem in certain models was causing fires. Australian authorities last year called that problem “a major safety failure,” after receiving complaints that the company was offering repairs but not a refund or replacement, as required by Australian law. The current recall comes after weeks of discussions between Samsung and U.S. authorities about reports that the drums in certain top-loading washing machine models can become unbalanced and cause severe vibration, in some cases causing the top of the machine to detach from the chassis. Samsung was hit with a lawsuit over the summer by attorneys representing consumers in Texas, Indiana and Georgia who say their washing machines “exploded” while being used. In a statement Friday , the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission cited 733 reports of Samsung machines that experienced “excessive” vibration and nine related reports of injuries, including a broken jaw and an injured shoulder. Samsung said the problem occurred when a high-speed spin cycle was used to wash bedding or other bulky items. In a statement, the company’s U.S. subsidiary said it’s working with retailers and the commission to inform consumers about the problem. “Our priority is to reduce any safety risks in the home and to provide our customers with easy and simple choices in response to the recall,” said John Herrington, a Samsung senior vice president, in the statement. 12
Image: Michael O’Donnell
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Samsung is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of home appliances, smartphones and other tech products, including batteries and memory chips. In the current recall, the company is offering consumers a choice between a free repair and a rebate toward the purchase of a new washing machine. Consumers who purchased an affected model in the last 30 days are being offered a full refund. The recall affects 34 models of top-loading washing machines manufactured between 2011 and this year. They were sold at Best Buy, The Home Depot, Lowes, Sears and other stores for prices between $450 and $1,500.
Online: Information about the recall can be found at https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/ Samsung-Recalls-Top-Load-WashingMachines or at http://new s.samsung. com/us/2016/11/04/samsung-announcesvoluntary-recall-of-certain-top-loadwashers/
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The best thing about Google’s new virtual-reality headset isn’t the headset at all. In fact, Daydream View would pale compared with Samsung’s Gear VR headset were it not for Daydream’s controller, a handheld device that responds to gestures and other motion. With Gear VR, I have to move my head to point a cursor at something, then reach for a button on the headset. With Daydream, I can just aim and click the controller in my hand. Sensors in the device tell the headset what I’m trying to do, whether it’s swinging a tennis racket or casting a fishing rod. The headset’s display responds accordingly. 16
The headset and controller are sold together for $79, starting Thursday. No rush in getting one, though, as the virtual experiences built for Daydream are still limited. And for now, it works only with Google’s Pixel phone .
THE MANY FLAVORS OF VIRTUAL REALITY While sophisticated systems like Facebook’s Oculus Rift and HTC’s Vive let you walk around in the virtual world, Daydream View is a sit-down experience in which you use the controller to move yourself around. (You could walk around with the Daydream on if you wanted to, but you won’t go anywhere in virtual space - and you might run into the wall.)
Those without compatible phones still have Google Cardboard, a $15 contraption you hold up to your face. Using Daydream View, by contrast, is more like wearing goggles. While Gear VR has a better fit, with focusing and a second strap over your head to keep the headset from sliding too low, Daydream is much more comfortable to wear and use than Cardboard.
ALL ABOUT THAT CONTROLLER Those who’ve played Nintendo’s Wii system will find the Daydream controller familiar. It’s about the size and shape of a chocolate bar, and it has motion sensors to track movement.
But the Rift and the Vive each costs more than $1,500, once you include powerful personal computers they require. Suddenly, $79 sounds like a bargain. Daydream stays cheap by using the display and processing power of your phone, which you insert into the headset at eye level.
Although I’m not a big gamer, I enjoyed shooting water out of a hose to put out fires. You simply hold a button to spray and move the controller around to douse flames. You can even tilt the controller to control the angle of the hose. Another app lets you explore the universe by using the controller as a laser pointer to bring up more information.
Gear VR, at $100, takes a similar approach, but it works only with Samsung phones. While Daydream works only with Pixel for now, several other Android makers plan to make compatible phones. Sorry, iPhone users.
The controller makes it easier to navigate menus without making yourself dizzy; just move it around to point at things. And while getting the full 360-degree experience of VR often requires spinning around (a swivel chair helps), some 17
apps in Daydream let you grab the scene with your controller and drag it around you, just as you would with a PC mouse. It’s also handy to have volume controls and a home button in your hand rather than on your head.
NAUSEA FREE? VR can be nauseating, and Daydream is no different. I found that it’s less about the headset, and more about the VR video. The best videos use stationary cameras and let you move your head (or controller) around to explore. The nauseating ones tend to treat VR cameras like regular movie cameras , with a lot of panning in response to a subject’s movements. The viewer, not the subject, should be the one doing the moving. And while I enjoyed watching a woman’s skydive in VR on YouTube, scenes of her preparing to jump felt jarring because the camera was on her shaky arm. I had to remove my headset.
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WHAT’S THERE TO DO? You can view 360-degree YouTube videos and any 360-degree photos you store on Google Photos. You can visit other destinations such as the Galapagos Islands in a 360-degree version of Google’s Street View. A few games, museum artworks and The Wall Street Journal’s app were also available to try out prior to Thursday’s launch. A handful more are coming Thursday. Even more are promised by the end of the year, including apps for Netflix and Hulu - though all that does is offer video on a giant screen in a virtual living room. There’s much more available for Cardboard. Unfortunately, app developers will need to make some tweaks first to make them compatible with Daydream. They’ll need to do even more to take advantage of the motion control. Daydream has promise, but until more apps arrive, its potential is still a dream.
Twitter’s chief operating officer is leaving the company, the latest high-profile departure from the troubled communication service. San Francisco-based Twitter said Wednesday that Adam Bain is stepping down and will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto. It says it will now look for a new CFO. Bain joined Twitter in 2010 and had been in charge of its business operations and worldwide moneymaking efforts. His departure appeared to rattle investors, many of whom have wanted - but failed - to see the company sold. Twitter’s stock is down nearly 3 percent after hours. Twitter has failed to keep pace with rivals Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. Last month, it announced it was cutting 9 percent of its workforce and killing its popular, if moneylosing, video-sharing app Vine. 19
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GERMANY EXPANDS DIESEL PROBE TO INCLUDE VW BOARD CHAIRMAN
German prosecutors have widened their investigation into Volkswagen’s handling of the emissions scandal to include its board chairman, Hans Dieter Poetsch, the company said last Sunday. Poetsch was VW’s chief financial officer when the company’s efforts to rig cars to cheat on U.S. diesel emissions tests became public in September 2015. 22
Image: Balint Porneczi
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Volkswagen said in a statement that prosecutors in the German city of Braunschweig are investigating three members of the board including Poetsch. Prosecutors were already investigating former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and VW brand chief Herbert Diess over allegations they didn’t inform investors soon enough. VW rejects those allegations. “Based on careful examination by internal and external legal experts, the company reaffirms its belief that the Volkswagen board of management duly fulfilled its disclosure obligation under German capital markets law,” it said in the statement Sunday. The company said VW and Poetsch would “continue to give the inquiries by the public prosecutor’s office their full support.” German law requires publicly traded companies to alert investors as soon as they become aware of unforeseen developments that could affect a decision to buy or sell the stock. The company has acknowledged learning in May 2014 that an environmental group had uncovered emissions irregularities, but that top officials didn’t discuss the matter until more than a year later. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a violation notice on Sept. 18, 2015, leading Volkswagen to assess the risks as more serious and issue its investor advisory on Sept. 22, 2015. Last month, a U.S. federal judge in San Francisco approved a $15 billion settlement under which Volkswagen will buy back or fix almost half a million cars affected by the emissions scandal in the United States. 24
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‘MOZART 225’ CONTAINS ALL OF HIS MUSIC IN 200-CD BOX SET
“Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition” (Decca and Deutsche Grammophon) What measures 11 inches square and 7 inches high, weighs 21 1/2 pounds and takes 10 days and nights to play? Answer: A new box set jam-packed with 200 CDs that contains every note composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in his short 35 years of life. Just in time for the 225th anniversary of the composer’s death on Dec. 5, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon have combined forces to issue this compilation, mind-boggling in its thoroughness and admirable in its scholarly depth. There are other “Complete Mozart” sets on the market, but this one has fair claim to boast that it’s “completer” than the rest. 26
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Talk about your embarrassment of riches! Chronologically, the compilation starts with Mozart’s first known compositions, two fragmentary Andantes in C major for harpsichord lasting 17 seconds and 14 seconds respectively, written in 1761 when he was 5 years old. It ends with his Requiem, left unfinished at his death in 1791. In between are not just all 27 piano concertos, 41 symphonies, every opera, song and sonata, but many alternate versions, fragments, arrangements of music by Handel and Bach and even works whose authorship is in dispute. Of particular historical interest is the world premiere recording of a recently discovered “lost song” that Mozart apparently composed in collaboration with Antonio Salieri. Written in 1785, Mozart’s contribution to “Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia” (“For the recovered health of Ophelia”) consists of just two stanzas lasting under a minute and a half. But the elegantly simple tune is instantly recognizable as the work of the composer.
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Among the extras packed into the sturdy box are five collector’s prints of Mozart autograph scores, the last-known portrait and a letter to his father. There are also two hardcover books - a new biography of the composer and a work-bywork commentary - plus a booklet presenting the numbering of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation’s forthcoming new edition of the Kochel catalog of Mozart’s works. There is so much material here it would take weeks or months to survey thoroughly. And the suggested retail price tag of $479.98 means a significant financial commitment. Definitely not for the casual listener, but for serious Mozart lovers it’s a treasure trove. 31
CHINA SAYS NEW ROCKET BRINGS SPACE STATION PLANS CLOSER
China’s plans for a permanent space station remain firmly on track with the successful launch of its new heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket that will enable ambitious future missions, including a planned trip to Mars. The towering rocket that blasted off last week from the Wenchang launch center will be used to launch components for the Tiangong 2 space station and other massive payloads. China launched the Tiangong 2 precursor facility in September and sent up two astronauts in mid-October to live aboard it for 30 days. The station’s 20-ton core module will be launched in 2018, and the completed 60-ton station is set to come into full service in 2022 and last at least a decade. The Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace,” stations are considered stepping stones to an unmanned mission to Mars by the end of the decade. 32
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The Long March 5’s next mission will be lofting the robotic Chang’e 5 probe to the moon next year to land a rover before returning to Earth with samples. The 57-meter (187-foot) two-stage rocket is China’s largest, capable of carrying 25 tons of payload into low-earth orbit and 14 tons to the more distant geostationary transfer orbit, in which a satellite orbits constantly above a fixed position on the earth’s surface. That is more than twice the carrying capacity of China’s most capable current rocket, the Long March 7. It is also just slightly less brawny than the most powerful rocket in service, the United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV, although SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, planned for launching next year, is designed to carry a payload into low-earth orbit of more than twice that size.
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Not to be outdone, China is working on an even bigger rocket capable of lifting 100 tons of payload into low-earth orbit, Tian Yulong, the program’s chief engineer, was quoted as saying at a news conference following Thursday’s launch. That would put it in the range of the now-retired Saturn 5 rockets the U.S. used in the Apollo lunar missions. Unlike earlier rockets that used highly toxic fuels, the Long March 5 burns a more environmentally friendly and less expensive kerosene-liquid oxygen-liquid hydrogen mix. It has a takeoff weight of 870 tons and a thrust of 1,060 tons. Wenchang on the southern island of Hainan is China’s fourth and newest launch site. Although Thursday’s mission was mainly designed to test the reliability of the Long March 5, it also carried a satellite for testing technology used to observe space debris, new electric sources and electric propulsion, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
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Its upper section, the Yuanzheng 2, is designed to better launch multiple satellites and send them directly into orbit, Xinhua said. In a joint congratulatory letter following the launch, the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee, the cabinet and the commission overseeing the military praised the new rocket as “the pinnacle of innovation in carrier rocket science and technology.” “Its successful launch... marks a milestone in China’s transition from a major player in space to a major power in space,” the letter said, according to state media.
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Business-focused social network LinkedIn faces being blocked in Russia after a court ruled it broke a law on data storage. The Moscow city court rejected LinkedIn’s appeal against a ruling that it had broken a law that requires personal data on Russian citizens to be stored on servers within Russia, court spokeswoman Ulyana Solopova told The Associated Press. Solopova says LinkedIn can appeal Thursday’s ruling. The case was brought by Roskomnadzor, the Russian state telecommunications and media regulator. LinkedIn’s website was still accessible on Moscow internet connections as of Thursday afternoon, though Roskomnadzor representative Vadim Ampelonsky told the Interfax news agency that LinkedIn would be blocked as soon as the agency received the full text of the court’s ruling, likely next week. 38
“’LinkedIn’s vision is to create economic opportunity for the entire global workforce,” the company said in a statement. “The Russian court’s decision has the potential to deny access to LinkedIn for the millions of members we have in Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses. We remain interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localization request.” Russia’s main antitrust regulator, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, also announced Thursday it had opened a case against Microsoft, which is in the process of concluding a $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn. The FAS said Microsoft was accused of abusing a dominant market position by failing to give enough time for anti-virus developers to adapt to the Windows 10 operating system, allowing them a matter of days rather than the two months allowed previously. The FAS argues that
gave an unfair advantage to Microsoft’s own Windows Defender, anti-virus software built into the operating system, and hurt competitors including Russia’s Kaspersky Lab, which filed a complaint to the regulator. “Such actions lead to an unjustified advantage for Microsoft in the program market. Our task is to ensure equal conditions for all participants in this market,” FAS deputy head Anatoly Golomolzin said in a statement. Kaspersky spokeswoman Yulia Shlychkova said the company was also preparing a complaint to be sent to the European Commission. Company founder Eugene Kaspersky accused Microsoft of trying to drive anti-virus software makers out of the Window market, adding in a blog post that “a dominating antivirus is a security threat in and of itself.”
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TRUMP WIN RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT UN CLIMATE DEAL
The election of a U.S. president who has called global warming a “hoax” alarmed environmentalists and climate scientists Wednesday and raised questions about whether America, once again, would pull out of an international climate deal. Many said it’s now up to the rest of the world to lead efforts to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, while others held out hope that Donald Trump would change his stance and honor U.S. commitments under last year’s landmark Paris Agreement. “Now that the election campaign has passed and the realities of leadership settle in, I expect he will realize that climate change is a threat to his people and to whole countries which share seas with the U.S., including my own,” said Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine. Image: Tom Pennington
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Small island nations which fear they will be swallowed by rising seas are among the biggest supporters of the Paris deal and other international efforts to curb emissions, mainly from fossil fuels. More than 100 countries, including the U.S., have formally joined the agreement, which seeks to reduce emissions and help vulnerable countries adapt to rising seas, intensifying heat waves, the spreading of deserts and other climate changes. “I’m sure that the rest of the world will continue to work on it,” Moroccan chief negotiator Aziz Mekouar said at U.N. climate talks in Marrakech. Many environmentalists and scientists weren’t so sure. “The Paris Agreement and any U.S. leadership in international climate progress is dead,” said Dana Fisher, director of the Program for Society and the Environment at the University of Maryland. However, the transition toward cleaner energy is so entrenched in the U.S. it would continue without federal money, she added. The U.S. under the Bush administration declined to join the previous climate deal, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which greatly reduced its impact on global emissions. But President Barack Obama made climate change a priority and was instrumental in making the Paris Agreement come together. Trump pledged in May to “cancel” the Paris deal. He has called for stripping regulations to allow unfettered production of fossil fuels - a key source of emissions - and rescinding the Clean Power Plan, an Obama administration strategy to fight climate change. 42
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In May, Trump told an oil and gas conference in North Dakota he would “save the coal industry” and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to global warming programs. “Trump will try and slam the brakes on climate action, which means we need to throw all of our weight on the accelerator,” said May Boeve, leader of the 350.org environmental group. The pro-fossil fuels American Energy Alliance said Trump’s victory presents a chance to reset “harmful energy policies” in the United States. “He has laid out an energy plan that puts the needs of American families and workers first,” the group’s president, Thomas Pyle, said. While shell-shocked American climate activists in Marrakech cried and embraced, U.S. negotiators declined to speak to reporters about the election’s outcome. However, before the two-week conference, U.S. officials said they expect other countries to stay the course irrespective of what Washington decides, because they see it is in their national interests. Li Shuo, a climate policy expert at Greenpeace in China, said his nation - the world’s top polluter - would continue to work on climate change “out of its own very genuine concern on air pollution, water pollution and food security.” The withdrawal process would take four years - an entire presidential term - under the terms of the agreement. However, Trump could also decide to simply ignore the Obama administration’s Paris pledge to reduce U.S. 45
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emissions by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. The pledges are self-determined, and there is no punishment for countries that miss their targets. Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a veteran U.S. observer of the climate talks, said he hopes Trump will adopt a more “responsible” view in office.“Even he does not have the power to amend and change the laws of physics, to stop the impacts of climate change, to stop the rising sea levels,” Meyer said. Several analyses have shown that the world is not on track to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) compared with preindustrial times, the goal of the Paris Agreement. Temperatures have already gone up by half that amount. Many climate scientists who feel countries aren’t doing enough to reduce emissions were dismayed by the Trump’s victory. “Can the world do climate stewardship without the U.S.? It has to,” said Jason Box, a glacier expert at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. Among the minority of researchers who disagree that global warming is a major threat, Trump’s win sparked hopes that a new administration would somehow change the way science looks at the issue. “Expect some long-awaited, rigorous examination of the theory/models,” John Christy, of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, wrote in an email. “The danger just isn’t there.” 47
TESLA TO END UNLIMITED FREE USE OF SUPERCHARGING STATIONS
Electric car maker Tesla Motors has decided to stop offering unlimited free use of its 734 fast charging stations worldwide, just months before it’s scheduled to start selling a mass-market electric car. Tesla Motors Inc. says cars ordered after Jan. 1, 2017 will get roughly 1,000 miles worth of credits each year for use at the Supercharger stations. But after the credits are used, owners will have to pay fees that Tesla didn’t detail on Monday. Vehicles ordered or sold on or before Jan. 1 would still get unlimited free charging. The move means that those who buy Tesla’s mass-market $35,000 Model 3, which is due to go on sale in the second half of next year, won’t get unlimited free charging. Tesla has more than 300,000 reservations for the cars, and if all those owners started using supercharger stations for free, that could get expensive for Tesla. 48
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Tesla wouldn’t say specifically how much its fees will be, but it said charging would cost less than the price of filling a comparable gasoline car. The company says it will release fee details later this year and that prices could fluctuate over time and vary by regional electricity costs. Still, the move shouldn’t hurt Tesla sales because the company remains the market leader for electric vehicles, and owners don’t use the stations that often, said Tasha Keeney, analyst for the industrial innovation fund at ARK Invest. Tesla owners charge their cars at home more than 90 percent of the time, she said, using the Superchargers mainly for trips or when they need extra range. At the average U.S. electricity price of 12.9 cents per kilowatt hour, it would cost $9.68 to fully recharge a Tesla Model S with a 275-mile battery at home. “EVs are the way forward. Tesla is in a really good position with 30 percent of the market. We don’t see that changing,” said Keeney, whose fund has holdings in Palo Alto, California-based Tesla Motors Inc. Buyers of new cars ordered or sold on or before Jan. 1 must take delivery before April 1 in order to get the unlimited free charging. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said previously that Model 3 owners would have to pay to use the charging stations. Tesla’s stations are used only 5 percent to 10 percent of the day, Keeney said, but many Tesla owners use them as a social gathering place to talk with other owners.
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The Supercharger stations can give the cars 170 miles of range in a half hour. A 30-amp public charging station can only do 10 miles in a half hour, the company says on its website. In the U.S., charging stations are across the nation, but many are concentrated in population centers long the East and West Coasts. The stations were set up to enable long-distance travel by Tesla electric cars. The company’s Model S sedan can go between 219 and 302 miles per charge depending on battery and software configurations. Tesla says the change will let it expand the supercharger network and it will not make a profit from the charging stations.
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CONTRADICTORY STATISTICS INDICATE EXTENT OF RIVALRY Two reports recently emerged shedding some light on not only how tight the competition continues to be between the operating systems of iOS and Android, but also how dramatically Apple and Google differ in their mobile strategies. For, while 2016’s third quarter saw Android’s share of the smartphone market reach nearly 88%, it also saw Apple’s iPhone line take over 100% of the market’s profits.
ANDROID: A LEADER, BUT A HOLLOW ONE Fresh data from Strategy Analytics could have led many observers to believe that Android has pretty much sewn up the smartphone market. After all, the data revealed that Android was on a mammoth 87.5% of smartphones shipped during the just-gone quarter; that compared to the 12.1% share that Apple’s iOS took in the same period. Indeed, Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, unsurprisingly remarked that Android’s lead “looks unassailable”, adding that the system’s “low-cost services and user-friendly software remain attractive to hardware makers, operators and consumers worldwide.” However, the true picture of the smartphone market is a lot more complex than these figures alone would suggest. What company is making most of the profits in this sector? The answer is, by an amazingly long chalk, Apple. Analysts at BMO Capital Markets have estimated that, during that same quarter, Apple captured 103.6% of those profits. While 57
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Samsung had the second highest slice of profits, the failure and withdrawal of the explosionprone Galaxy Note 7 meant that the South Korean giant’s share was a mere 0.9% this time around. Most smartphone vendors actually lost money on smartphones, which explains why Apple’s share was able to exceed 100%.
APPLE IS ALSO FINANCIALLY HELPING DEVELOPERS MORE It’s a similar story when it comes to which system’s official app outlet makes the most money. Looking back at the third quarter, while Android’s Google Play was responsible for 70% of app downloads, the iOS App Store still amassed 65% of the revenue, mobile analytics firm App Annie has reported. The generally greater affluence of iPhone owners likely helps to explain such discrepancies; Android remains especially strong in emerging markets. Another reason for the rather lopsided makeup of the smartphone market is that, quite simply, Apple and Google are employing deliberately different strategies. It’s a proxy war, if you will, albeit one that could soon noticeably change following the release of Google’s own-brand Pixel and Pixel XL handsets… but we’ll return to the subject of them later. For now, we’re going to scrutinize how iOS and Android have each reached their particular positions.
A TALE OF TWO BUSINESS MODELS In fact, Google itself appears to be among the many companies distantly trailing Apple when it comes to revenue from smartphones. In January, a lawsuit between the search giant and Oracle 59
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saw a lawyer for the latter claim that, in its entire lifetime, Android has made $31 billion in revenue for Google. The mention of billions of dollars makes this figure seem impressive – but Apple has easily bettered it. As Quartz observed following this revelation, Apple’s iPhone generated $32.2 billion in sales during the third quarter of 2015. This was, at the time of the Quartz report, the most recent quarter for which Apple had announced its financial results. This means that, yes, Apple has made more money from the iPhone in a single quarter than Google has made from Android during the entire period it has been part of the company’s portfolio. Now, this is actually – to use a half-pun – an apples-to-oranges comparison, albeit one that remains very interesting for the great differences that it reveals about the mobile strategies of Apple and Google. Apple made this money from sales of the iPhone hardware, while Google, until recently, didn’t make its own hardware, instead bringing in money from Google Play and advertisements displayed on Android phones. Apple’s hardware-first approach has likely, as observed by 9to5Mac, helped it to command high margins, while also enabling it to avoid the advertising model on which Google is much more reliant. Google’s approach was even recently criticized by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who at the Festival of Marketing in October, said that genuine marketing was defined by “understanding what people want in products”, adding: “Google primarily makes money off advertising, while Apple makes [it from] good products – there’s a big difference.” 62
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THE EMERGING BATTLE OF iPHONE VS PIXEL Nonetheless, there is one big sign that Google might be shifting its strategy, if only slightly: its announcement of its first own-brand smartphones, the Pixel and Pixel XL, in October. At first glance, these phones appear to have a lot in common with the iPhone: they come in “standard” and “phablet” sizes, are pretty impressive as far as camera technology goes, and will support years of updates to the operating system. Then, there’s the premium pricing, which starts at $649. However, it’s from its services that Google largely makes its money – and there’s no doubt that the Pixel handsets are geared towards encouraging use of those services. So, the Siri-like Google Assistant is included, as are the Google Allo and Duo messaging services. The phones are also ready for use with Google’s virtual reality platform Daydream, and photos can be backed up in full quality to the Google Photos cloud service. There are plenty of indications, then, that Google is happy to have its cake and eat it. Still, it remains to be seen how quickly Google will make inroads into Apple’s huge share of the smartphone market’s profit pool. After all, the Android purveyor is playing catch-up with its Cupertino rival here; the Pixel phones suffer a few notable omissions in comparison to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. These include optical image stabilization for snapping life-like photos and the same level of water resistance. Indeed, with Google having reportedly rushed out thephones in just nine months, it’s a slightly clumsy, if still promising, start. 65
APPLE TRANSITIONS INTO A SERVICES COMPANY Yet, Apple also appears to be gradually shaking up its long-established formula for success. The company evidently remains determined to protect its enviable profit margins, having reportedly opted against refreshing the relatively low-cost iPhone SE for 2017’s second quarter. However, Apple’s services business, including the iTunes Store, Apple Music and Apple Pay, has achieved impressive growth. In fact, after the disclosure of Apple’s financial results for the third quarter of the 2016, CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that this services business alone will be “the size of a Fortune 100 company by next year”. During that quarter, services had brought Apple $5.976 billion in revenue – 19% higher than in the same quarter a year earlier. In the following quarter, that revenue reached $6.3 billion, representing a further 24% in year-on-year growth. Does this seem familiar? Probably yes, because it’s closer to a Google approach than what Apple has utilized in years past. In truth, as both companies work hard to continue growing their revenues, it’s not obvious why either should adhere to a primary focus on either hardware or software when they can instead extensively draw upon the benefits of both. That’s probably going to make the contest between iOS and Android even closer over time, further increasing the difficulty of discerning which operating system is truly “winning”.
by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan
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FAR-RIGHT POLISH GROUPS PROTEST FACEBOOK PROFILE BLOCKAGES
Several far-right Polish groups have protested outside Facebook’s office in Warsaw after the social networking site temporarily blocked their profiles. About 120 people demonstrated in the Polish capital last week, denouncing what they said was “censorship.” Facebook recently blocked the profiles of farright nationalist groups ahead of nationalist demonstrations on Independence Day next Friday, Nov. 11. In recent years, extremist groups have clashed violently with police on the annual holiday. Facebook has since unblocked the profiles. 68
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Those at the rally in Warsaw called on Facebook to respect the freedom of expression as guaranteed in Polish law. Krzysztof Bosak of the National Movement told the protesters: “What Facebook does is not in line with our constitutional rights.” Other groups at the rally included the National Radical Camp and All-Polish Youth.
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CHINA APPROVES LAW TO TIGHTEN CONTROL ON INTERNET USE
China’s legislature has approved a cybersecurity law that human rights activists warn will tighten political controls and foreign companies say might isolate Chinese industries. Chinese leaders have said the law approved Monday is required to prevent crime and terrorism. It also prohibits activity aimed at “overthrowing the socialist system,” a reference to opposition to the ruling Communist Party’s monopoly on power. The measure tightens control on where Chinese citizens’ data are stored and impose standards for security technology. Human rights groups complain the measure will tighten already sweeping controls on speech. A coalition of business groups warned in August it might isolate Chinese companies from the global economy and limit foreign access to China’s market for security technology. 72
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REPORT OF DIFFERENT SAMSUNG PHONE MODEL EXPLODING
A Samsung phone user in France says her Galaxy J5 smartphone caught fire and exploded on Sunday. The model is different from the Galaxy Note 7 that has been recalled worldwide. Lamya Bouyirdane told The Associated Press on Monday that she noticed the phone was very hot after she asked her four-year-old son to pass it over during a family gathering at her home. She said she threw the phone away when she realized it had “swollen up” and smoke was coming out. “I panicked when I saw the smoke and I had the reflex to throw it away,” said Bouyirdane, a mother of three in the southwestern French city of Pau. The phone then caught fire and the back blew off. Her partner quickly extinguished it. 74
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Bouyirdane said she bought the phone new last June on a website offering discounts. The South Korean company recently recalled millions of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones globally because of a problem that caused the batteries to overheat and catch fire. William Stofega, a mobile analyst for IDC, said the incident in France was most likely an isolated one, noting that the phone has been on the market for several months now and this is the first report of a battery fire that he’s aware of. “These reports tend to cluster,” he said. He added that problems involving lithium-ion batteries used in not just smartphones, but also laptop computers, have been around for years and there’s no easy fix for them. Manufacturing defects or even a small amount of damage can cause a short circuit, resulting in an overheated battery and potentially a fire. Samsung did not immediately respond to an email from the AP seeking comments following the latest incident.
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After spending two straight falls consumed by awards season, Eddie Redmayne is taking a break from the Oscars and fronting his first franchise. In the Harry Potter prequel “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the mantle of J.K. Rowling’s leading man has been passed from Radcliffe to Redmayne. His Newt Scamander also wields a wand, but he’s a humbler operator in the same magical realm. Newt is a sheepish Brit arriving in 1926 New York, with a leather case stuffed with wondrous but outlawed creatures. Though the film, which also stars Colin Farrell, Katherine Waterson and Dan Fogler, is an ensemble, Redmayne is undoubtedly the 78
freckled face of the new Pottermania. It’s a new, high-pressured role for Redmayne, an Oscar winner for his Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything” and a nominee for last year’s “The Danish Girl.” So is fatherhood; in June, his wife, Hannah Bagshawe, gave birth to their daughter, Iris. A few hours after taking a break from promotional duties with Iris, Redmayne chatted in a downtown Manhattan hotel about his headlong dive into Rowling’s empire, the film’s multicultural message and just how many movies he’s gotten himself into. TLN: Your first blush with the Harry Potter world came much earlier, didn’t it?
Redmayne: This is true. When I was at university, they were casting the net quite wide for Tom Riddle, the young Voldemort. I had gotten an audition. I think I was seeing the casting director’s eighth assistant. I remember surviving about three and a half lines of the first scene before I was shown the door, so I wasn’t very successful. It wasn’t the greatest introduction to the Harry Potter world.
TLN: What did Rowling tell you about Newt?
TLN: I imagine, being a young actor in Britain, many of your contemporaries were finding their way in.
TLN: The fantastical beasts your character is secretly shepherding are deeply feared and banned in America. The political subtext is hard to miss.
Redmayne: I definitely thought having a slight ginger gene there must be some distant relative of a Weasley I could be. I had lots of friends -- Robert Pattinson did the film and then Domhnall Gleeson played a Weasley. They would come back with wonderful tales. But I never got the call. TLN: So how did “Fantastic Beasts” come to you? Redmayne: It came in the most wonderfully cryptic, slightly sort of Harry Potter-y way. I got a call saying that (director) David Yates wanted to meet. We met at a club called Blacks in Soho in London. I went downstairs and I found David sitting by a roaring fire. And I have this little case, this Globe-Trotter case that I always use as my work case. I think I was working on “The Danish Girl” so I came from there. He just gently started telling me this story and introducing me to who Newt Scamander was. And then he mentioned this case that had this sort of Mary Poppins-like quality. And I subtly pushed my case back. I was so mortified that he might think I was that actor who had turned up dressed as the character.
Redmayne: We had a discussion for about an hour two weeks before filming. It was the first time I met her. She told me where Newt came from in her imagination and aspects of her own life. It was a really wonderful conversation and galvanizing conversation. But it’s not one that’s really my place to talk about because it was personal to her.
Redmayne: I find that interesting in what it represents of things we don’t know, things we see as other that we just become terrified of and dismiss. Newt believes, with the right education for both wizards and the creatures, there’s a way to live harmoniously. I don’t feel like he’s a broadcaster. He’s doing it in his own gentle way. TLN: Rowling has recently announced she plans not three but five “Fantastic Beasts” films. Will you be around for all of them? Redmayne: In my heart of hearts, I don’t know. I’m contracted to a few more but they always contract you to more in case you’re needed. But I think only Jo knows what the story is. What I feel, what I get the sense of, is that Newt and his case and the beasts are the catalyst and the entrance -- our eyes -- into this much bigger story that she wants to tell about good versus evil. I had the most wonderful time doing it and I would love to be a part of it as it moves forward -- unless I get killed off! 79
TESLA INKS DEAL TO BUY GERMAN MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING FIRM
Tesla Motors says it has agreed to buy a German engineering company to help automate its electric car manufacturing. The company is buying buy Grohmann Engineering, which Tesla says is a leader in highly automated manufacturing methods. Tesla expects to start building the $35,000 Model 3 electric car next year, and it wants to build 500,000 cars per year in two years. More than 300,000 people have put down deposits to reserve a Model 3. Tesla expects to add more than 1,000 engineering and technician jobs in Germany over the next two years. The company says the acquisition should bring improvement in the speed and quality of production at its Fremont, California, factory. The deal is expected to close early next year. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed. 80
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REVIEW: ‘ARRIVAL’ LUMBERS, AND THAT’S NOT JUST THE ALIENS
It turns out that when space aliens do eventually arrive on Earth - and, wouldn’t you know it, they traveled all that way without bothering to learn any of our languages beforehand? - we won’t need any fancy high-tech gizmos with LED screens to communicate. All we’ll need is a simple whiteboard and a black marker to break the intergalactic ice and say “hi.” That’s among some of the hard-to-swallow premises of “Arrival ,” a sluggish, naturalistic meditation on loss and time that also happens to have lumbering spidery, squid-like aliens who arrive in a spacecraft that resemble massive watermelon seeds. The film tries to straddle the line between serious sci-fi that examines Big Ideas (like “Solaris”) and the kind of popcorn-munching, go-get-thoseslimy-critters summer blockbusters (hello, “Independence Day”). It doesn’t always succeed and ends on such a muddled philosophical note 82
Image: Jan Thijs
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that you may need the whiteboard back for a quick explanation to be mapped out. Amy Adams stars as linguist Dr. Louise Banks - “the top of everyone’s list when it comes to translations” - who is enlisted by the military to help communicate with one of 12 alien ships that suddenly appear on Earth, silent and eerie. (Wait, they’re shy?) She’s aided by an admirable Jeremy Renner, a theoretical physicist, who nicely doesn’t end up being smarmy and condescending. Forest Whitaker plays a grim military leader trying to protect the pair’s work despite pressure from upstairs to bomb the aliens into calamari. Adams, whose character is reeling from personal turmoil, delivers a heart-wrenchingly beautiful performance using her ability to communicate a half-dozen emotions just standing still. Wonder, sorrow and anguish are written all over her face. But director Denis Villeneuve (“Sicario”) sometimes gets lost in repetition and blind alleys, causing the inherent tautness of the story to go slack. Why do we spend so much time in a shaft inside the alien’s ship? How many times must we watch Adams trudge off to be decontaminated? The plot is based on Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” and adapted by Eric Heisserer. The leap to the screen has been benefited by the slow reveal of the aliens, a gorgeous sequence in which we follow a helicopter to a landing site and the nifty way the filmmakers show the aliens’ visual language, which resembles stains on a coffee table made by a perspiring beer pint. (It brings new meaning to Banks’ statement, “Language is messy.”) Once communication has been made - actually, that whiteboard seems less impressive when we 85
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learn the aliens had telepathic powers all along the real bad guys end up being that old faceless movie punching bag: The military. The film virtually goes off the rails at this point as tanks and guns pointed from by-the-book soldiers threaten to undo the good will. Whether the aliens are peaceful or malevolent - are they offering a tool or a weapon? - turns this tale into another run-ofthe-mill alien invasion yarn. The ghostly music by Johann Johannsson - with an assist by Max Richter - is truly a thoughtful soundscape, and the film’s inherent stillness is nicely broken by the military’s engines of war, which threaten communication in more ways than one. But perhaps the biggest problem with “Arrival” is that first contact has already clearly been made - to Steven Spielberg and his masterful “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Whether subconsciously or as an overt nod to the master, Villeneuve echoes Spielberg’s use of edgy soldiers and his heroes sleeplessly obsessing about alien communication, right down to using clay models and kids’ drawings. Both films even share the image of backlit aliens speaking to humans while in a cloud of fog. So, with all due respect to “Arrival,” rent that 1977 film instead. “Arrival,” a Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “brief strong language.” MPAA definition of PG-13: Parental guidance suggested, with some material may not be suitable for children. Running time: 116 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Online: http://www.arrivalmovie.com 87
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Kubo and the Two Strings A young boy with magical powers embarks on a quest for the suit of armor that his late father wore, in order to defeat the vengeful spirit invading his peaceful village.
FIVE FACTS: 1. The Kubo puppet used in the film had a total of 23,187 faces, which made it possible for him to pull over 48 million facial expressions. 2. The giant skeleton is the largest stopmotion puppet ever constructed. The armor that it wears consists of over 1,000 bones.
by Travis Knight Genre: Kids & Family Released: 2016 Price: $14.99
3. The Moon Beast was created entirely with 3D printing. It was printed at 1/5 scale and included in composition shots with the fullsized Kubo puppet.
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4. To research how to portray Beetle, Matthew McConaughey read the script to children to see what would be funny, scary or sad. 5. Kubo and the Two Strings runs a total length of 1 hour and 41 minutes, making it the longest stop-motion picture created to date.
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“I Don’t Got This”
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Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie Picking up where the much-beloved British sitcom left off, Edina and Patsy are still living in luxury, but when they receive the blame for an incident at an important fashion launch party, they’re forced to flee to the French Riviera.
FIVE FACTS: 1. The script for the Absolutely Fabulous movie was written because of a bet. Jennifer Saunders had to pay Dawn French, her comedy partner, £100,000 ($124,000) or give her the script by the end of 2015. 2. Mandie Fletcher is the director of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie; it is the first film she has directed in over 24 years. 3. A film adaptation was being discussed as early as 1995, but Saunders wanted to produce additional episodes of the original show instead.
by Mandie Fletcher Genre: Comedy Released: 2016
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4. Kate Moss plays a cameo role in the movie and performed all of her own stunts. 5. The movie features a total of 90 drag queens.
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Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie Stem Cells | Official HD Clip 2016
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Havana Moon (Live) The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones return with a live tour showcasing the amazing sound and energy that they continue to be known for, even after 50 years of performing live.
FIVE FACTS: 1. The Rolling Stones have grossed over $750 million from their concerts down the years. Genre: Rock Released: 11 November 2016 18 Songs Price: $10.99
2. Frontman Mick Jagger was always known for his unique style of dancing onstage, so it should come as a surprise that he is a ballet dancing enthusiast in his spare time. 3. Locks of Mick Jagger’s hair, cut off him during the 60s, have been taken to auction and sold for £4,000 (approximately $5,000). 4. There used to be a long-standing rumor that guitarist Keith Richards once had a complete blood transfusion to kick his addiction to heroin. This rumor was revealed to be false and was started by Richards himself. 5. Despite the band’s many hits down the years, its debut album only had one original song. “Tell Me (You’re Coming Back)” was written by Richards and Jagger after their manager locked them in a kitchen and forced them to write.
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We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service A Tribe Called Quest Back with their distinct brand of artistic rap, characterized by more subtle lyrics that do away with the macho vibe of most gangsta rap, A Tribe Called Quest remain on top form.
FIVE FACTS: 1. This album has a number of A-List featured artists, such as Kendrick Lamar, Elton John and Busta Rhymes. 2. It was widely believed that 1998’s The Love Movement would be the group’s last album due to differences among the members, but in 2015, the founding members got together to record this final album in secret.
Genre: Hip-Hop, Rap Released: Nov 11, 2016 16 Songs Price: $10.99
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3. Phife Dawg, who recently passed away, chose the name of this album. The other band members have admitted that they don’t know what the name means, but have kept it out of respect. 4. This marks the sixth studio album for the group, which has been active since 1985. 5. This album is the first new album from A Tribe Called Quest in more than 18 years.
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BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘DOCTOR STRANGE’ CONJURES $85.1 MILLION
Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” topped a strong weekend at the box office with $85.1 million from North American theaters, according to box office sales reported by the studios on Monday. The success of “Strange” also continues Marvel’s now fourteen-film streak of always opening in first place. There was more money to go around, too. DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls” sang its way into the second place spot with $46.6 million, while Mel Gibson’s independently-financed WWII drama “Hacksaw Ridge” took third place with $15.2 million. 104
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The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:
1.
“Doctor Strange,” Disney, $85,058,311, 3,882 locations, $21,911 average, $85,058,311, 1 week.
2.
“Trolls,” 20th Century Fox, $46,581, 142, 4,060 locations, $11,473 average, $46,581,142, 1 week.
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“Hacksaw Ridge,” Lionsgate, $15,190,758, 2,886 locations, $5,264 average, $15,190,758, 1 week.
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“Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween,” Lionsgate, $7,731,797, 2,234 locations, $3,461 average, $64,921,852, 3 weeks.
5.
“Inferno,” Sony, $6,165,987, 3,576 locations, $1,724 average, $25,973,917, 2 weeks.
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“The Accountant,” Warner Bros., $5,872,303, 2,688 locations, $2,185 average, $70,780,497, 4 weeks.
7.
“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” Paramount, $5,453,273, 3,079 locations, $1,771 average, $49,113,273, 3 weeks.
8.
“Ouija: Origin Of Evil,” Universal, $3,869,765, 2,380 locations, $1,626 average, $31,259,015, 3 weeks.
9.
“The Girl On The Train,” Universal, $2,690,575, 1,572 locations, $1,712 average, $70,647,940, 5 weeks.
10.
“Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children,” 20th Century Fox, $2,050,229, 1,710 locations, $1,199 average, $83,284,618, 6 weeks.
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“Moonlight,” A24, $1,235,275, 83 locations, $14,883 average, $2,989,973, 3 weeks.
12.
“Keeping Up With The Joneses,” 20th Century Fox, $1,092,302, 1,064 locations, $1,027 average, $13,307,538, 3 weeks.
13.
“Storks,” Warner Bros., $1,000,558, 1,155 locations, $866 average, $69,968,062, 7 weeks.
14.
“Ae Dil Hai Mushkil,” Fox International Productions, $785,376, 296 locations, $2,653 average, $3,621,941, 2 weeks.
15.
“Deepwater Horizon,” Lionsgate, $750,084, 783 locations, $958 average, $59,919,222, 6 weeks.
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“Kevin Hart: What Now?,” Universal, $581,805, 453 locations, $1,284 average, $23,132,285, 4 weeks.
17.
“Sully,” Warner Bros., $526,321, 454 locations, $1,159 average, $123,286,540, 9 weeks.
18.
“The Magnificent Seven,” Sony, $452,520, 490 locations, $924 average, $92,238,549, 7 weeks.
19.
“Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life,” Lionsgate, $405,382, 485 locations, $836 average, $19,120,167, 5 weeks.
20.
“A Man Called Ove,” Music Box Films, $368,405, 167 locations, $2,206 average, $1,863,381, 6 weeks.
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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THE EVOLUTION OF AMY ADAMS ON VIEW IN ‘ARRIVAL,’ ‘NOCTURNAL’
For a time, Amy Adams, a former chorus girl from Colorado, was known for her princesses and country girls: sweet and sunny characters that helped make Adams a star. “I call them the innocents - like Picasso, my ‘innocent period,’” Adams says, chuckling. “But the naivety or anything that I brought to a role, I didn’t feel trapped by it. I thought each of them saw the world in a different way. I was perplexed that people saw me in that way but I understood it. I didn’t know when or how that would change, but I knew it needed to in order for me to evolve as an actress.” That evolution has been going on for some time, from the forceful restraint of her performances in “Doubt” and “The Master” to more unbridled outings in a pair of David O. Russell films, “The Fighter” and “American Hustle.” At 42, she is already a five-time Oscar nominee. But this fall, in a pair of intelligent, layered performances, Adams’ expanding range and growing complexity has never been more on view. 115
In Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival,” she stars as a linguist tasked by the government with communicating with newly landed aliens whose sleek, orb-like ships are mysteriously hovering just off the ground. The movie, which opens Friday, is thick with a “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” atmosphere and resonant - through Adams’ performance - with deeper emotions than your average sci-fi film. Adams also stars in Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals” (out Nov. 18), as a Manhattan gallerist trapped in an unhappy marriage. When a novel written by her first husband (Jake Gyllenhaal) arrives, she’s teleported into a fictional world. The book’s story, a bloody thriller, is heavy with personal subtext. “Both of these characters come to a crossroads and I feel like I’m at a bit of a crossroads,” Adams reflected in an interview in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, where both films played. “It’s being a mom and entering my 40s and looking at things in a different way, a way that has been really awesome,” Adams said of her shift. “I feel really happy about the changes that have happened internally. I feel like these films helped that happen.” But those changes, she says, are mostly about finding a balance between her career and her family life. She and husband Darren Le Gallo have a six-year-old daughter. Though spelling out the connection would give too much away, motherhood was an especially powerful influence on “Arrival.” Adams agreed to do the film within 24 hours of being sent the script. 116
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“Every time I start talking about my daughter in relationship to ‘Arrival,’ it goes straight to tears,” says Adams. “My husband saw the film before I did and he couldn’t talk to me for a while.” Adams’ range as an actress is a sneaky kind. There are no tales of tortured transformations. She simply keeps showing up in role after role, fully inhabiting a character with warmth and smarts while, to varying degrees, remaining herself. Working with her acting coach, Warner Loughlin, Adams builds the essence of a character in advance of shooting so that she can be free and reactive on set. That was especially necessary in both “Arrival” and “Nocturnal Animals” because both films call on her to express much without speaking. In the latter, she’s often just reading. “I have to be active and I have to drive a sort of emotional core through the movie,” says Adams, “but yet I’m very much reactive at the same time. In ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ I was alone a lot.”
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Image: Merrick Morton
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Villeneuve, the Quebec director of “Sicario” and “Prisoners,” says he needed a strong actress who could emote a lot while often acting against a tennis ball. “I knew that the movie would be on her shoulders,” says Villeneuve. “I wanted someone who you could read what was she was going through without words. The movie is Amy Adams, to me.” Ford, the fashion designer whose previous film, “A Single Man,” pursued Adams for some of the same qualities. “It’s in her eyes. She has a soul and you can look right into her eyes and see it. You cannot not like Amy Adams,” says Ford. “There was not a bad take of that woman. Her brain is always moving and everything she’s thinking is always on her face.” Adams hasn’t entirely left “the innocents” behind. She will reprise her “Enchanted” role in a sequel for Disney. And she has reliably been the most lively, intelligent thing in the DC Comics films as Lois Lane. “I’d love to do a whole Lois thing but I don’t think that’s where they’re going,” she says, with sarcastic understatement. “I can safely say that ‘Justice League’ is not a Lois Lane stand-alone.” Unfortunate as that is, the question remains: What can’t Amy Adams do? “I can’t speak Mandarin. I can tell you that from my experience on ‘Arrival,’ Adams says. “That was the only time Denis and I had any conflict, because I was so stressed out. He was like (dropping her voice for a spot-on impression of Villeneuve’s deep Quebecois accent), ‘You have to calm down. You must calm down.’” 120
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Michael Keaton is returning to his superhero roots, this time as a villain, in next year’s Spider-man reboot. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed in an interview with the Toronto Sun that Keaton will play Vulture in “Spider-man: Homecoming.” Keaton played the title character in the 1989 version of “Batman” and its 1992 sequel, “Batman Returns.” He was also nominated for an Oscar for his turn as an actor dogged by his days playing a superhero in 2014’s “Birdman.” “Spider-man: Homecoming” will be the first film in the franchise to be produced by Marvel Studios. It stars Tom Holland as the web slinger and is set for release in July. 122
The impending presidency of Donald Trump is already helping his books sell. Trump’s breakthrough best-seller from the 1980s, “The Art of the Deal,” and his campaign work “Great Again” were on Amazon.com’s “Movers & Shakers” list Wednesday of books making the biggest jumps on the best-seller list. “The Art of the Deal” soared from No. 1,107 to No. 24 and “Great Again” from 5,340 to 172. J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” also was attracting strong interest after Trump’s upset victory Tuesday over Hillary Clinton. Vance’s memoir about his white working-class family in rural Ohio, a key part of Trump’s winning coalition, was No. 2 as of midday Wednesday. 123
INTERNET FREEZES FOR ‘MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE’ CRAZE
Forget dumping ice buckets, dancing or planking, the latest viral phenomenon sweeping the internet consists of people standing still as part of the “mannequin challenge.” Videos of the challenge feature posing as mannequins in dramatic postures. They began to appear late last month online and by last weekend everyone from high school cheerleaders in Texas to the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks had taken part. The Dallas Cowboys went airborne for their challenge, complete with a stoic Tony Romo being stuffed into an overhead compartment on the team plane. The challenge has become a victory celebration for some teams. Texas Christian, Penn State and Clemson’sfootball teams posted mannequin challenges after big wins Saturday. The videos are set to the song “Black Beatles” by rap duo Rae Sremmurd, which held a live version of the challenge during a concert last 124
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The brave Daedalus crew of six is traveling to Mars.
heard from in the series who thinks there’s money as well as glory to be found in Mars colonization.
Their trip will take months. But once they land, their plan isn’t to grab some rocks and hurry back to Earth. They aim to make Mars home.
But this is more than manifest destiny.
Such is the saga of “Mars,” an innovative hybrid of drama and documentary premiering Monday at 9 p.m. EST on the National Geographic channel (with the first of its six weekly hours now available for free streaming ). The voyage takes place in 2033, but don’t take this saga as futuristic pie-in-the-sky. It’s worth noting that 2033 is just 17 years away and that, for many viewers, 1999 - just 17 years ago - seems pretty recent. Besides, this sci-fi odyssey is grounded in hard facts and scientific rigor, as reflected in the unscripted documentary sections clearly labeled “2016.” “Getting to Mars will be risky, dangerous, uncomfortable, but it’ll be the greatest adventure ever in human history,” says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, among many farsighted “big thinkers” 126
Andy Weir, whose novel “The Martian” inspired the 2015 film of the same name, voices an even more compelling motivation: hedging earthly bets. “We need to go to Mars because it protects us from extinction,” he declares. “Mars” has brought together a number of collaborators. Besides its scientific consultants, the series claims director Everardo Gout, Justin Wilkes as showrunner and, among his fellow executive producers, Oscar-winning Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. How in the world did the project come together? Initially, from conversations between various parties who each proposed “Let’s do Mars,” according to Grazer, “though at first we didn’t really know what we were doing. ‘Mars’ implies so much: It ignited some dream in each of us.” “The series was a balancing act,” says Howard. “It had a documentary component, which is always a question mark at the beginning. Then came
fully scripting and shooting the drama, which was meant to take the ideas we were learning and personalizing them. We wanted to be as cinematic and propulsive as we could be, but verisimilitude was a grounding principle and an obligation.” “It’s in the zeitgeist right now,” says Wilkes. “There’s a lot of people thinking about Mars, and a lot of engineering and science being put into it, both on the private industry side and the public side.” Cut to 2033. “Some of us, if not all of us, will almost certainly die on this mission,” Ben Sawyer, Daedalus mission commander, reminds his crew. This may sound gloomy, but Ben Cotton, who plays Sawyer, hails astronauts as inherently upbeat. “It was interesting to jump into that perspective,” he says, “because as an actor you get trained to go toward the turmoil, the darker end of things. It was cool to be in that positive space.” “Astronauts are passionate, but they’re not crazy,” adds series consultant Mae C. Jemison, a former NASA astronaut who flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. “They’re dreamers and have great imaginations, but at the same time they’re very practical.” Jemison (to whom the producers paid homage by christening the Daedalus computer system the Mars Analytic Executor, or MAE) worked with producers, writers and cast to share her out-ofthis-world experience. One tip: In the heat of the moment, don’t get hot and bothered. “When you’re working an emergency, that’s when you get CALMER,” she advises. “If you shout over
each other you’re dead, because you don’t know what’s going on.” As scripted, the mission (with Moroccan desert portraying Mars’ surface) is jammed with emergencies and casualties. “But in the series we are taking an overall optimistic view that this is something that humanity can do, should do, is doing and will do,” says Wilkes. “It’s the equivalent of the first Jamestown colony. History is repeating itself. It might not be easy and it might not be pretty, but we’re not giving up.” Wilkes reiterates a series message: Mother Earth won’t support us forever. “In terms of the long game,” Wilkes says, “it seems like a pretty good bet that we should try to become interplanetary. But in the process maybe we’ll also find a way to get along with each other to do what we need to do on this planet.” Cynics might say that humans, well on our way to trashing Earth, simply mean to ditch it for a new world to waste. This series begs to differ. “It’s not that we’re just trying to escape our problems here,” says Wilkes. “We’re trying to use a Mars mission as a way of fixing our interrelationships on Earth.” Once upon a time, putting a man on the moon galvanized the nation. But when the “space race” was “won,” Americans lost interest. Today, an entrepreneurial spirit and boundless vision could revive a worldwide appetite for space travel. “I think popular opinion may be shifting,” says Howard. “I hope our show can help.” 127
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Image: Daniel Acker
INDIA TRYING TO FIX HACKED WEBSITES OF 7 OF ITS EMBASSIES
Indian officials were trying Tuesday to restore the websites of seven Indian embassies in Europe and Africa that were hacked and had data dumped online. The security of the websites of Indian embassies in Italy, Switzerland, South Africa, Libya, Malawi, Mali and Romania was breached by hackers who identified themselves to the media as Kaputsky and Kasimierz L. “We are aware of the problem and are trying to fix it,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters. 129
Attempts were being made to track the IP addresses of the hackers, who posted online the names, email addresses, phone numbers and passport numbers of some embassy staff members. Several Indian websites have come under attack this year. Last month, Pakistan-based hackers targeted more than 7,000 Indian websites after India launched a series of attacks on terror camps in Pakistan. Also in October, the security of around 3.2 million debit cards in India was breached when hackers inserted malware through an ATM network.
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Even though Lynn Stalmaster helped such actors as John Travolta, Christopher Reeve, Richard Dreyfuss and Jon Voight get their start in Hollywood, he would never say he “discovered” them. “I feel I’m instrumental,” the 88-year-old casting director said, his eyes glistening as he considers the impact he may have had on those careers. “I’m getting too emotional here,” he said. Stalmaster will become the first person to receive an Oscar for casting when he accepts an honorary Academy Award Saturday at the film academy’s eighth annual Governors Awards. There is no Oscar category for casting directors, who only established a branch within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences three years ago. Action star Jackie Chan, film editor Anne V. Coates and documentarian Frederick Wiseman 132
are also receiving honorary Oscars for lifetime achievement at the Governors Awards ceremony in Hollywood. Stalmaster, who started his career as an actor, suggested Travolta for what would become his breakout role: Vinnie Barbarino in the sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter.” “He won and became a national star,” Stalmaster said. “The young girls loved him. And then later, even (Quentin) Tarantino,” who revived Travolta’s career with 1994’s “Pulp Fiction.” Stalmaster earned a master’s degree in theater from UCLA, and though he was having some success as an actor (he counts the 1951 John Wayne film “Flying Leathernecks” among his credits), he wanted a backup plan. He started working as a production assistant to a prolific pair of television producers, who eventually asked him to become their casting director. “I’d never sat in on casting,” Stalmaster said. “And (they said), ‘We want you to cast our five series.’ No training!” He made it his business to know every young performer around, and traveled regularly to New York and Europe to meet with actors, managers
and agents. Stalmaster ultimately opened his own casting office and went on to work with such directors as Billy Wilder, George Stevens, William Wyler, Norman Jewison, Blake Edwards, Hal Ashby, John Cassavetes, Mike Nichols and Sydney Pollack. As a casting director, Stalmaster was responsible for bringing fresh faces to filmmakers and helping them shape their ensembles in such films as “West Side Story,”‘’The Graduate,” ‘’Deliverance,”‘’Tootsie” and “The Right Stuff.” He employed his own acting skills to bring out the best in the performers he was casting by reading with them in auditions. “I could look into their eyes and play the scene,” he said. “And I probably played more roles than any other actor in history - and females!” But he never regretted changing careers. Stalmaster said he’s gratified by the projects and people he worked with, and the unprecedented recognition from the film academy. “That’s what brings me so much inner joy and emotion,” he said. “It’s not only an Oscar for me, but it’s recognizing the major contribution casting makes.” 133
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Image: Mohamed Messara
UN CLIMATE CHIEF: NO DOUBT WORLD WILL SHIFT TO LOW EMISSIONS
Climate negotiators started work Monday on implementing the Paris Agreement on global warming amid uncertainty over how the U.S. election will impact the landmark deal as temperatures and greenhouse gases soar to new heights. U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa told delegates in the rain-soaked Moroccan city of Marrakech that “no politician or citizen, no business manager or investor” can doubt that the world is determined to shift toward a “lowemission, resilient society.” So far, 100 countries have formally joined the agreement adopted last year in Paris, including top polluters China, the United States, the European Union and India. 135
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However, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he would “cancel” the deal if he wins the election this week. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, backs the climate policies of President Barack Obama’s government. The upcoming election seemed to be on everyone’s mind at the start of the two-week conference in Marrakech, where even security guards at the sprawling conference center were overheard discussing the potential implications for the world and efforts to fight climate change in particular. “Trump becoming President? I personally don’t have problem with it. But what does the guy want to do?” said Adjo Bokon, a delegate from the West African nation of Togo. “Is he conscious of what is going on with climate change?” Gabriela Fischerova, a Slovak official representing the European Union, said the 28-nation bloc is “open to any result. We will continue our discussions with any administration that will be in place.” The Paris Agreement marks the first time all countries have pledged to fight global warming by curbing the rise in greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide from fossil fuels. The U.N. says global emissions rise every year, reaching 52.7 billion tons in 2014, primarily driven by the rapid expansion of China, India and other Asian economies. Meanwhile, global average temperatures keep hitting new records. Last year was the hottest since reliable record-keeping began in the 19th century and this year is expected to be even hotter. 137
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On a per-capita basis, rich countries like the United States, Australia and oil-rich Gulf nations, have the highest emissions. “The wealthiest countries live as if there were three planets,” said French Environment Minister Segolene Royal. Meanwhile, poor countries in Africa who have contributed very little to the problem are suffering the consequences with fertile land turning into desert, she said. Delegates will meet for two weeks in the Moroccan city to work on the rules for implementing the Paris deal, including how to measure and report emissions so that countries can be held accountable. The goal of the agreement is to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with preindustrial times, and “pursue efforts” to try to hold it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The lower threshold was introduced on demand from vulnerable countries such as low-lying island nations who fear they will be washed away by rising seas as global warming melts glaciers and ice sheets. Temperatures have already risen about 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F) since the industrial revolution and analyses of the emissions cuts that countries have pledged so far show they put the world on a path to about 3 degrees C (5.4 degrees F) of warming. “Decisions made in the next few years will largely determine if we’re able to achieve the 1.5 C warming threshold agreed in Paris,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Peru’s former environment minister who now leads environmental group WWF International’s work on climate change. “Or if we take the unthinkable option of blowing right past it.”
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GEMALTO CEO PROMISES GROWTH AFTER PROFIT WARNING FEARS
Gemalto on Oct. 28 cut the forecast to 500 million euros ($553 million) to 520 million euros, from 660 million euros previously. It cited the combined effect of some contract delays and the need to keep spending on items including its distribution network. Analysts predict earnings before interest and taxes will be 484 million euros next year on average; a month ago, they were still expecting 518 million euros, within a range as high as 609 million euros. “We could’ve edged closer to analysts’s consensus if we’d sacrificed investments, but we can’t under-invest only to boost short-term profitability,” Vallee said. “Growth prospects are very good in our markets beyond 2017,” and Gemalto needs to prepare for that, he said. The company’s recent wins include contracts to secure connected objects for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, cars for PSA Group, as well as mobile payments in Japan through Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay. 141
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In the final quarter of this year, Vallee forecast government, enterprise and machine-tomachine units will grow faster than in the third quarter. The banking segment will keep to the same trend as in the third quarter, and the SIM card business will shrink at a rate of 10 percent to 15 percent, he said. Vallee, whose plan is to grow Gemalto organically by developing new product features and expanding into new geographies, is open to making acquisitions and said he’d be comfortable boosting debt temporarily to do deals. The company was outbid in September for Safran SA’s biometrics arm, which sold for 2.4 billion euros. “We hadn’t based our 2017 targets on that acquisition, and not doing it won’t dent our business in any way,” Vallee said. “We’ve got an M&A radar to keep track of potentially interesting targets. Depending on how markets evolve, we can step on the gas and reach for an acquisition.”
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