Innholdsfortegnelse for #437 i Techlife News

The annual movie exhibition and trade show CinemaCon has been canceled in Las Vegas due to coronavirus, scuttling one of Hollywood’s premier hype machines. The week-long conference, which brings together everyone from Hollywood studio executives and celebrities to movie theater owners and equipment and concession manufacturers, had been scheduled to begin March 30 at Caesars Palace. Theater owners, however, have not yet closed their doors. While cinemas have been shuttered in several other nations, including China, Italy and Poland, they remain open in North America. The cancellation was announced in a joint statement by John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, and CinemaCon’s managing director, Mitch Neuhauser. “While local outbreaks vary widely in severity, the global circumstances make it impossible for us to mount the show that…

A Southern California man has agreed to plead guilty to trying to sell $6 million worth of phony paintings he claimed were created by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and other modern masters, prosecutors said Tuesday. Philip Righter, 43, of West Hollywood acknowledged that he used some fakes as collateral for loans he never repaid and for phony income tax write-offs, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which said the plea agreement was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court. Righter tried to bilk victims out of $6 million and caused more than $758,000 in losses, along with more than $100,000 in costs to the federal government through tax fraud, prosecutors said. Richter sold the bogus artworks from 2016 through June of 2018, creating phony documents to back up his claims…

A Las Vegas wedding with an Elvis impersonator: Canceled. A 3,500-kilometer (2,200-mile) trans-America road trip, a voyage of a lifetime that took months to prepare: On ice, too. The new anti-virus travel ban announced by U.S. President Donald Trump threw Europeans’ best-laid plans — family reunions, birthday celebrations, vacations, trips for both business and pleasure — into utter disarray Thursday. For Europeans brought up on imports of American television, music, sports and fast food, the idea of suddenly being temporarily unwelcome on the other side of the Atlantic was a psychological shock, too, akin to being spurned by an old and familiar friend. “We were going to get married in Las Vegas, with Elvis. It was going to be epic,” said Sandrine Reynaert, a Parisian who was having to cancel…

As Florida’s busy spring break season kicked off this month, coronavirus czar Vice President Mike Pence addressed something that’s been on the mind of tens of thousands of families preparing to travel to theme parks: Is it safe? Over the weekend, Pence stressed it is safe for healthy Americans to travel, noting “one of our favorite places to go when my children were young and even before my children came was in Orlando.” “Whether it be Disney World, whether it be other destination, whether it be cruise ships… those most at risk are seniors with serious or chronic underlying health conditions.” “Otherwise Americans can confidently travel in this country,” Pence said at a meeting with cruise industry officials in Fort Lauderdale. Still, as COVID-19 concerns multiply, the issue weighs heavily…

Though Apple has been pivoting towards its consumer market in recent years with upgrades to iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watches, the company hasn’t forgotten about its ever-lucrative macOS user base and looks set to overhaul its entire desktop portfolio in the months ahead. CHALLENGING TIMES Over the past several years, Apple has pooled its efforts towards improving its iPad and iPhone sales, and though million-dollar marketing campaigns and new product launches have helped the company hold onto its position as one of the most dominant players in the technology market, it’s no secret that smartphone sales are declining around the world, as consumers hold onto their older devices for longer to save money, and as innovation in the industry slows, making the once-annual upgrade cycle less attractive than it once…

Some assembling is still required, but the Avengers are gathering in a big way at Disneyland. A new Spider-Man attraction that allows riders to sling webs with their bare hands and live-action fights between Avengers members and Marvel supervillains are among the highlights of the new Avengers Campus that arrives July 18 at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim. Taking its cues from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which debuted across the resort at Disneyland Park last year, the Avengers Campus will be an immersive experience that seeks to tell super-heroic stories across a series of rides, shows and eateries. “We’ve been trying to figure out how do we bring this land to life not just where you get to see your favorite heroes or meet your favorite heroes, but where you…

A SpaceX cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, delivering the company’s 20th batch of gear and treats. The Dragon capsule reached the orbiting lab after launching last Friday (06). NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir used the station’s robot arm to capture the spacecraft. The 4,300-pound (1,950-kilogram) shipment contains science experiments and equipment, as well as special goodies for the three-person crew aloft for months: grapefruit, tomatoes, Skittles, Reese’s Pieces and Hot Tamales. This is the last of SpaceX’s original-style Dragons. All future ones are designed to carry either cargo or crew, and will dock automatically rather than require robot-arm assistance. SpaceX has been sending up station cargo since 2012 and plans to start launching NASA astronauts this spring. From 260 miles (418 kilometers) up,…

California’s attorney general said that the state will not appeal a judge’s decision approving T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion purchase of Sprint. Attorney General Xavier Becerra and New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 14 state attorneys general who sued to stop the deal. They had argued that eliminating a major wireless company would harm consumers by reducing competition and adding billions of dollars in costs through higher phone bills. The companies said the deal would benefit consumers by helping the companies build a better next-generation, 5G wireless network than each could do alone. A federal judge in New York sided with the companies in February. New York decided not to appeal a few days later. Becerra hold a press conference Wednesday to announce a settlement with the companies.…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government narrowly defeated an attempt led by some of its own lawmakers to ban China’s Huawei from building part of the U.K.’s high-speed telecommunications network. Three dozen Conservative lawmakers backed a call to bar “high risk” firms such as Huawei from any involvement in the network after 2022. The move, which came in an amendment to a telecoms bill, was defeated by 306 votes to 282 in the House of Commons, where the Conservatives have an 80-seat majority. Some 36 Tories rebelled. Britain angered the United States when it announced in January that it would let Huawei supply parts of its next-generation cellular networks, known as 5G. The U.S. has banned Huawei as a security risk, claiming it could give the Chinese government access…

U.S. wholesale prices fell 0.6% in February, the biggest decline in five years, led by a sharp drop in energy costs. The Labor Department said the decline in its producer price index, which measures price pressures before they reach the consumer, followed a 0.5% rise in January. It was the sharpest decline since a similar 0.6% drop in January 2015. Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, was also down in February, dropping 0.3%. Over the past year, producer prices have risen a modest 1.3% and core prices are up just 1.4%. On Wednesday, the government had reported that consumer prices edged up a slightly 0.1% and are up 2.3% over the past year. The Federal Reserve seeks to manage monetary policy to hit its target of 2% annual increases…

Saudi Arabia steamed ahead with its new energy play by directing the kingdom’s oil company Aramco on Wednesday to increase its maximum production capacity, while Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas company ADNOC followed suit by saying it was boosting output by 25% to 4 million barrels per day. Abu Dhabi’s decision to increase production comes after Saudi Arabia took steps to essentially flood the market to dominate a greater share, after major oil producer Russia refused to go along with more production cuts. Meanwhile, global demand for oil is slowing down due to the outbreak of a new virus that’s hampered travel and business. Saudi Arabia said this week it would increase its crude oil production to 12.3 million barrels a day starting in April. That’s 300,000 barrels per day…

A biotech meeting at a hotel in downtown Boston appears to be the source of a cluster of the coronavirus in the U.S. — and a warning for employers who are still holding big gatherings as the outbreak spreads. Seventy-seven of the 95 confirmed cases in Massachusetts have been linked to a meeting of executives with Biogen, a company based in Cambridge, next to Boston, that develops therapies for neurological diseases, state officials said. An additional 12 people who have tested positive for the virus outside Massachusetts have been linked to the Feb. 26-27 meeting, including five in North Carolina, two in Indiana, and one each in New Jersey, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., officials said. Two tested positive in Europe, Biogen spokesman David Caouette said. The Biogen cluster underscores the…

With coronavirus topping Americans’ concerns, senior Trump administration officials tried to switch subjects by announcing final rules aimed at delivering on the unfulfilled promise of electronic health records. It did not go smoothly as reporters veered back to the global outbreak increasingly affecting U.S. communities. “The notion that we can’t do our day jobs and work on this very serious issue (coronavirus) is absurd,” said a frustrated Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar after one reporter noted that financial markets had opened sharply lower over fears of global economic damage from the outbreak. Azar recapped administration actions to try to contain the spread of the virus in the U.S., develop tests, treatments and vaccines, work with local officials in areas that are seeing outbreaks, and care for the sick.…

As former Vice President Joe Biden’s drive for the White House gains momentum, the 77-year-old’s political opponents on both the right and left have launched an internet campaign suggesting he’s not mentally or physically equipped to serve — sometimes using altered content and other disinformation to make their case. The effort prompted Twitter to mark a video of Biden shared by President Donald Trump as “manipulated media” — but only after it had been viewed millions of times. Facebook added warning labels to the video and reduced its distribution on its platform after news organizations fact checked the video on its site. The Associated Press works with Facebook as a third-party fact checker. The episode highlights the challenges social media companies face in containing the rapid spread of misleading information…

Twitter says it’s reached an investment deal with Silver Lake and Elliott Management that will keep Jack Dorsey as the social media company’s CEO. Twitter Inc. said that Silver Lake will make a $1 billion investment in the company. That money, along with cash on hand, is expected to be put toward a $2 billion stock buyback. Elliott Management Corp., which owns about 4% of Twitter’s stock, will get one seat on Twitter’s board. Silver Lake will also get a board seat. Prior media reports had suggested Elliott was planning to nominate four people to Twitter’s board and oust Dorsey. But the new agreement makes it seem likely he will stay. Twitter has lagged behind businesses like Facebook and Google in terms of user growth and advertising revenue. CEO Jack…

Boeing faces 61 safety fixes following last year’s botched test flight of its Starliner crew capsule, NASA said. NASA has also designated December’s aborted space station mission as a serious “high-visibility close call” that could have destroyed the capsule — twice. In releasing the outcome of a joint investigation, NASA said it still has not decided whether to require Boeing to launch the Starliner again without a crew, or go straight to putting astronauts on board. Douglas Loverro, NASA’s human exploration and operation chief, told reporters that Boeing must first present a plan and schedule for the 61 corrective actions. Boeing expects to have a plan in NASA’s hands by the end of this month. Loverro said the space agency wants to verify, among other things, that Boeing has retested…

A Utah school district adopted computer software that alerts administrators and parents to activity in student Google accounts that may raise concerns. The Weber School District in Ogden plans to use the free service called Bark that flags mentions of self-harm, drugs or weapons in online accounts, The Standard-Examiner reported. Parents and students were informed of the program that began two weeks ago, district officials said. Administrators will receive snippets of conversations or copies of Google documents containing the flagged content, officials said. Alerts are generated through artificial intelligence and algorithms, District Technology Director Lynn Raymond said. “We’re not trying to catch kids doing bad things,” Raymond said. “It’s trying to train them how to be safe, how to be protected and how to be appropriate with your online and…

In a lively Muslim quarter of Nanchang city, a sprawling Chinese factory turns out computer screens, cameras and fingerprint scanners for a supplier to international tech giants such as Apple and Lenovo. Throughout the neighborhood, women in headscarves stroll through the streets, and Arabic signs advertise halal supermarkets and noodle shops. Yet the mostly Muslim ethnic Uighurs who labor in the factory are isolated within a walled compound that is fortified with security cameras and guards at the entrance. Their forays out are limited to rare chaperoned trips, they are not allowed to worship or cover their heads, and they must attend special classes in the evenings, according to former and current workers and shopkeepers in the area. The connection between OFILM, the supplier that owns the Nanchang factory, and…

Boeing’s stock tumbled 18% on Wednesday, its biggest one-day percentage drop since 1974, and company leaders painted a sobering picture for the business in 2020. The Chicago-based company said it has imposed a hiring freeze in response to the virus outbreak that is undercutting air travel and threatening to kill airlines’ appetite for new planes. Boeing said it received 18 orders last month for new large planes, but 46 orders were canceled, most of them for the grounded 737 Max, leaving the company with a net loss of 28 orders in February. The company is also restricting employees’ travel and discretionary spending and limiting overtime to work on getting the Max back in flight. Shares of Boeing Co. fell below $200 for the first time since mid-2017, closing at $189.08.…

China’s auto sales plunged 81.7% in February from a year ago after much of the economy was shut down to fight a virus outbreak, an industry group reported Thursday, adding to problems for automakers already struggling with shrinking demand. Sales of SUVs, sedans and minivans fell to 224,000, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Total vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, fell 79.1% to 310,000. Auto dealerships, cinemas and other consumer businesses were ordered to stay closed after the Lunar New Year holiday to help contain the virus that emerged in central China in December. Sales “fell sharply due to the severe impact of the new coronavirus epidemic,” a CAAM statement said. The government is easing controls in many areas to revive economic activity. Auto factories are reopening,…

A team of scientists jostled for a view of the lab dish, staring impatiently for the first clue that an experimental vaccine against the new coronavirus just might work. After weeks of round-the-clock research at the National Institutes of Health, it was time for a key test. If the vaccine revs up the immune system, the samples in that dish -- blood drawn from immunized mice -- would change color. Minutes ticked by, and finally they started glowing blue. “Especially at moments like this, everyone crowds around,” said Kizzmekia Corbett, an NIH research fellow leading the vaccine development. When her team sent word of the positive results, “it was absolutely amazing.” Dozens of research groups around the world are racing to create a vaccine as COVID-19 cases continue to grow.…

Seven weeks after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the U.S., the spread of the virus that causes the disease has done widespread damage to critical economic sectors in the country. Airlines are cutting capacity, people are working from home, major public events that raise millions of dollars for local communities have been canceled, including this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston. Bellow, a running tally of the effects of the coronavirus on people, businesses, and the economy. TURBULENCE IN THE AIR Europe’s airports say they expect 187 million fewer passengers this year due to the virus outbreak, which is “turning into a shock of unprecedented proportions for our industry.” The ACI Europe, which represents the sector, estimated that the outbreak will mean a 13.5% drop in…

For a revolutionary animation studio, Pixar has been surprisingly wary of advancing technology. The company may be at the forefront of digital animation, but for 25 years, its spiritual DNA has been decidedly nostalgic. It’s the old-school new school. In “WALL-E,” high-tech humans have devolved into overweight TV addicts who need to be jarred out of their stupor. In “Monsters Inc.,” modern kids have grown too blase to be scared by monsters, prompting a scream shortage. “Cars” preached small-town, off-the-beaten-track values. Pixar’s latest, “Onward,” goes even further. “Long ago, the world was full of wonder,” a narrator introduces. There were magical creatures like trolls, gnomes, elves and dragons with special powers. But the drumbeat of progress, from light bulbs to airplanes to smart phones, has steadily sapped all the fantasy…

The state of Vermont is suing a data broker that it says uses facial recognition technology to map the faces of Vermonters, including children, and then sells access to the data to private businesses, individuals and law enforcement. New York-based Clearview AI has drawn attention following investigative reports about its practice of harvesting billions of photos from social media and other services to identify people. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other companies in February demanded that Clearview stop harvesting their users’ images. Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan filed a lawsuit against Clearview, alleging that the company violated Vermont’s Consumer Protection Act and new data broker law. “I am disturbed by this practice, particularly the practice of collecting and selling children’s facial recognition data,” Donovan said in a written statement. “This practice…

At one hot, faraway world, it’s always cloudy with a chance of iron rain. That’s the otherworldly forecast from Swiss and other European astronomers who have detected clouds full of iron droplets at a hot Jupiterlike planet 390 light-years away. This mega planet is so hot on the sunny side — 4,350 degrees Fahrenheit (2,400 degrees Celsius) — that iron vaporizes in the atmosphere. The iron likely condenses on the cooler night side of the planet, almost certainly turning into rain. “Like droplets of metal falling from the sky,” said Christophe Lovis of the University of Geneva who took part in the study. The iron rain would be extremely dense and pack a pretty good punch, according to the research team whose study appears in the journal Nature. “It’s like…

Sometimes, sitting in a public place like a hotel lobby, you notice a mix of colors you’d never considered using in your own home — and you realize you absolutely love it. Or you see furniture that’s much more modern than you thought you liked, but it’s just what your living room needs. Interior designers say clients often tell them about public places with style they want at home. This can function as a useful shorthand, says Lauren Buxbaum Gordon, design director and partner at Nate Berkus Associates, who designs commercial and residential spaces. “If somebody tells us they love the Park Hyatt in New York versus the Greenwich Hotel,” Gordon says, “we know we’ve got a good place to start with them.” It’s not about trying to duplicate that…

Inside a giant decontamination facility at the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant, workers in hazmat suits monitor radioactive water pumped from three damaged reactors, making sure it’s adequately — though not completely — treated. Three lines of equipment connected to pipes snaking around in this dimly lit, sprawling facility can process up to 750 tons of contaminated water a day. Four other lines elsewhere in the plant can process more. From there, the water is pumped to a complex of about 1,000 temporary storage tanks that crowd the plant’s grounds, where additional tanks are still being built. Officials say the huge tanks will be completely full by the summer of 2022. The decontamination process is a key element of a contentious debate over what should be done with the nearly…