Say Hello to mac OS Sierra !

Your mac is about to change, and this time you really  will be saying "hello" with Siri's arrival on desktop.  Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) once again brought us the major software announcements that we expect to see in the middle of the year. This time around, updates were announced for each of Apple’s four operating systems at the same time, and their names were brought into line too. All of their names now end in ‘OS’, and so our beloved OS X made way for macOS, the new name for your Mac’s operating system. That wasn’t the only naming update: macOS is actually version 10.12, and carries the more casual-sounding name Sierra. If El Capitan felt like Yosemite enhanced, Sierra looks like it’s really going further, introducing a whole new way to control your Mac with Siri, more Continuity features, the ability to shop securely online with Apple Pay, copy and paste between macOS and iOS, and a new file system (though that won’t exit beta until 2017). iOS 10 goes even further in what looks like the biggest update in years. There’s a totally redesigned Lock screen, and more customisations in Messages than you’ll know what to do with! Siri has also been enhanced, and HomeKit finally gets its own app to make it easier to control your smart home. Here we get right to the heart of what matters and show you how many features, such as Photos, are changing across the whole Apple ecosystem. We can’t wait for September to come!

Apple Watch 2: Launching Soon September 2016 Date

Apple gets ‘aggressive’ in time for autumn Watch 2 launch Although Apple doesn’t want you to know the exact numbers, it’s the opinion of many that the Apple Watch has failed to sell as many units as the Cupertino giant had hoped. However, the latest news from the supply chain is that Apple is going on the offensive with Apple Watch 2. Tim Cook’s firm has reportedly placed a higher volume of orders for Watch components to its suppliers than expected – enough to ship up to two million units to customers per month. The supply chain source described these orders as “rather aggressive” given the apparent disappointing Watch sales so far.  The chips and components used to make the Apple Watch are expected to ship in the third quarter of 2016. That would place them in the region of July to September, potentially in time for Apple’s regular September event, provided the Watches themselves can be manufactured in time. Watch 2 could therefore launch alongside the iPhone 7, which certainly makes sense, given the close relationship between the two Apple devices. Apple will be hoping the introductionof watchOS 3 and better specs in Apple Watch 2 will further boost sales figures. Read our watchOS 3 highlights on page 41 for more.

iPhone 7 CPU Boost Made 10nm process faster more efficient A10 chip to be manufactured by TSMC

You won’t be surprised to hear that Apple is expected to include a new processor, the A10, in the iPhone 7 when it launches in September this year. But what is interesting about this news is that the manufacturing process is set to change, bringing with it important power and efficiency improvements.While the A9 processor in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus is built on a 14nm process, the A10 is slated to debut on a smaller 10nm manufacturing process. In practice, this will result in a faster, better performing chip. At the same time, this should improve efficiency, meaning longer battery life in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus without Apple having to increase the size of the built-in batteries in its range of new smartphones. TSMC is expected to be Apple’s sole manufacturer of the A10 chip. The firm’s CEO, Mark Liu, has stated that the 10nm process will be ready for high-volume production by 2017 at the latest, leaving a small possibility that it could sneak into the iPhone 7 this year.TSMC has also disclosed that it is working on a 7nm chip, but this will not be ready for mass production until 2018 at the earliest.

ACTIVIST INVESTOR PUSHES SHUTTERFLY TO PURSUE A SALE

Activist investor Ancora Advisors is stepping up the pressure on photo sharing service Shutter y to negotiate a sale of the company or reshuffle its board of directors if a deal can’t be quickly worked out. Ancora outlined its demands in a letter sent Monday to Shutterfly’s interim CEO, Philip Marineau. The Cleveland investment fund wants Shutter y Inc. to reach out to potential bidders following the company’s disclosure last month that it had received an unsolicited offer from an unnamed private equity firm. Ancora's letter identified the suitor as Thomas H. Lee Partners, a private equity firm in Boston. Shutter y declined to comment on Ancora’s letter. Thomas Lee Partners also declined to comment. When it revealed the overtures about a potential sale, Shutterfly said that its board wasn’t negotiating a deal. “We believe it would be extremely irresponsible of the board to dismiss this unsolicited bid and eschew a strategic review,” Ancora CEO Fred DiSanto wrote in the letter. Ancora sent its letter a week after another Shutter y shareholder, Eastbay Asset Management, urged the company to explore a sale. Eastbay Asset is among Shutterfly’s largest shareholders with a 5.4 percent stake, according to FactSet. Ancora owns a 0.3 percent stake. Shutterfly is currently looking for a new CEO after its longtime leader, Je Housenbold, stepped down last month. Ancora contends the transition to a new CEO makes it an ideal time for Shutterfly’s board to gauge how much the Redwood City, California, company might fetch in a sale. Shutter y currently has a market value of about $1.6 billion. If no deal emerges before Shutterfly’s next annual meeting in June, Ancora wants the company to replace two directors, venture capitalists Eric Keller and Nancy Schoendorf, on its eight-member board. Keller has been on Shutter y’s board since 2006 and Schoendorf has held her seat since 2004.

 

EGYPT TAXI DRIVERS BLOCK MAJOR CAIRO STREET TO PROTEST UBER

Egyptian security forces red tear gas Tuesday to disperse taxi drivers who had blocked a major road in the capital, Cairo, to protest Uber and other car-hailing applications, which the head of the Cairo traffic police insists are illegal. The drivers stood in a roundabout on Gameat el- Dowal street after the canister was red at them when they left their cars, witness Lamia el-Etriby and taxi drivers at the protest said. They had blocked all but one lane, causing a major traffic jam as police vehicles arrived on the scene. “We are not leaving until an official comes and gives us his word that all these apps will be shut down in Egypt,” said Sherif Ali, a taxi driver and one of the protest organizers.Taxi drivers have been protesting Uber’s presence in the country in recent weeks. The application has very rapidly become popular in Cairo, a city of 20 million people with almost- constant tra c jams. Taxi drivers have complained that Uber drivers have an unfair advantage because they do not have to pay the same kind of taxes or fees, nor follow the same licensing procedures. Now the Egyptian government appears to be agreeing, and launching a crackdown on the service. Maj. Gen. Alaa el-Degwy, the head of Cairo’s tra c police insists Uber and a similar app named Careem are Illegal as taxis require different processes and rules. He said police in Cairo have begun clamping down on Uber drivers at checkpoints, and those who are caught must pay a fine. The police also cancel the driver’s license, take the car license, and refer the driver to public prosecutors, he said. In addition to paying specified taxes, drivers must carry a special license and be registered as a taxi, said el-Degwy, who added that officers have even brought disgruntled taxi drivers along to demonstrate the crackdown in action. Egyptian clients say they prefer the dependability of the app, complaining that normal taxi drivers often tamper with their meters or pretend the meter is broken in order to overcharge them. They also appreciate the safety provided by the app, especially for female passengers at night who fear being sexually harassed by drivers in a country where sexual harassment is endemic. Uber says it trains all drivers who enroll with the service, with particular emphasis on eliminating sexual harassment."As a victim of multiple sexual harassment incidents in cabs and by other drivers, Uber really made my life as a woman safer and easier in Cairo,” said 31-year-old Radwa Al Rifai, adding that she is “shocked” at the government’s measures “to take away from us the one safe means of transportation.” David Pouffe, Uber’s chief adviser and a member of the board of directors, is currently visiting Cairo. He told The Associated Press that the service has boomed in Egypt as both passengers and drivers embrace it. As many as 10,000 drivers have enrolled with Uber, including 600 who started on Monday alone, he said. “They are taking some of our livelihood and splitting it with us,” said taxi driver and protester Yasser el-Sharqawi. “We get fewer clients and when we get them they tell us, ‘We will be using Uber and Careem instead.’” In addition to the police crackdown, Uber drivers have faced vigilante violence from taxi drivers. In some instances, Uber drivers have responded to an order and found an angry mob of taxi drivers waiting to drag them to a police station. Uber Egypt General Manager Anthony el-Khoury said that he and Pouffe, the visiting board member, plan to meet with government officials this week to find solutions to this standford and ways to coexist. “There is still discussion that will happen between us and the government to see if they feel comfortable with these types of regulations, or we can work toward stronger regulations so that we can coexist in a more transparent way,” said el-Khoury. “I think there’s a misconception that this is a zero sum game.”Elkhoury said that Uber has brought some “healthy competition” that might be pushing taxi drivers to address their customer-service issues. Protest organizer Ali said that drivers have begun organizing training courses against sexual harassment and thinking about ways to improve their services. El-Khoury told AP that Uber drivers do pay Egyptian taxes through an indirect route. The company only hires drivers who are licensed through private limousine or car rental companies, which do pay their own corporate taxes, he said. “This is a circumvention of the law,”said el- Degwy, of the Cairo traffic police. “You cannot have a citizen riding in a car with someone he knows nothing about.” 

 

US SANCTIONS CHINESE TECH SUPPLIER OVER IRAN TIES

Washington has restricted the access of one of China’s biggest telecoms equipment makers, ZTE Corp., to American components after concluding the state-owned company improperly exported U.S. technology to Iran. The sanctions took effect this week after ZTE was found to be “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests” of the United States, the U.S. Commerce Department said. The department released documents it said showed ZTE set up front companies to evade U.S. controls on high-tech exports to Iran. The Chinese government said it opposes the U.S. sanctions. ZTE’s technology purchases support thousands of U.S. jobs that might be in jeopardy, the Commerce Ministry said."This approach will only hurt others without necessarily bene ting oneself,” said China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, at a news conference Tuesday during the meeting of the national legislature. ZTE said it was “fully committed” to obeying the law wherever it operates. “ZTE has been cooperating, will continue to cooperate and communicate with all U.S. agencies as required,” said a company statement. “The company is working expeditiously toward resolution of this issue.” The conflict reflects the complex ties between U.S. and Chinese technology companies despite Washington’s concerns about sharing advanced know-how with China. Most of the world’s smartphones and personal computers are assembled in China. ZTE and other Chinese companies are developing their own technology but rely on Western chipsets and other components. The sanctions could prompt Chinese leaders to push for faster development of their own edgling technology suppliers, said Nikhil Batra, research manager for Asia-Paci c telecoms for IDC. “It might be a boon” to officials who want to reduce reliance on foreign sources, said Batra. “It’s not likely to be their chief concern that one of their companies has been sanctioned when it can lead to better development of China as a technology marketplace,” he said. American companies also might be vulnerable to retaliation, Batra said. He noted Beijing fined American chip supplier Qualcomm Technologies Inc. 

and investigated software giant Microsoft Corp. on anti-monopoly charges after Huawei Technologies Ltd. was forced out of the U.S. server market following complaints it might be a security risk. Founded in 1985 as Zhongxing Semiconductor Co. Ltd., ZTE is a major supplier of network switching gear and other telecoms products. It assembles smartphones for other companies and has launched its own brand. ZTE and three other entities, including one in Iran, “were identi ed in the scheme developed by ZTE Corp. to re-export controlled items to Iran contrary to United States law,” said a Commerce Department announcement.  It said they will face additional requirements to apply for export licenses and gave no indication whether they would be granted. Two documents released by the department described a “detached (business) model” and “detached (shell) companies” set up to handle sales to Iran of products covered by U.S. trade embargoes. The documents were marked “Top Secret Highly Con dential.”The Commerce Department did not say how it obtained them. The sanctions threaten to disrupt sales by U.S. technology suppliers such as Intel Corp. and Qualcomm. They earn billions of dollars a year from chip sales, license payments and other revenue from Chinese customers. ZTE spends about $450 million every quarter on U.S. technology, according to Batra. In addition to Qualcomm and Intel, he said suppliers include Avnet Inc., which makes electronics used in routers. Intel is “still assessing the possible impact,” a company spokesman, Will Moss, said in an email. Potential non-U.S. suppliers include MediaTek Inc., a Taiwanese maker of chipsets used by Chinese smartphone brands Huawei and Xiaomi, and South Korea’s Samsung, said Batra. But he said for components in network routers and other advanced products, there is no alternative to Intel or rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. “It’s going to be a big impact for both sides - for ZTE as well as the U.S. companies,” he said. ZTE, headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, said it earned 2.6 billion yuan ($400 million) on revenue of 81.5 billion yuan ($12.5 billion) in 2014, the most recent year for which it has reported results. U.S. authorities earlier cited ZTE as a possible security risk. In 2012, a congressional panel said the company and rival Huawei were potential threats and Americans should avoid doing business with them. ZTE Corp.: http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/

GO MASTER: AI WILL ONE DAY PREVAIL BUT BEAUTY OF GO REMAINS

Computers eventually will defeat human players of Go, but the beauty of the ancient Chinese game of strategy that has fascinated people for thousands of years will remain, the Go world champion said Tuesday. South Korean Lee Sedol, a Go master who has won 18 international titles since he became a professional player at age 12, said the risk of human error means he may not win his match this week against Google’s artifficial intelligence machine, AlphaGo. “Because humans are human, they make mistakes,” the 33 year-old said a day before the first of the five games he is due to play against AlphaGo. “If there are human mistakes, I could lose.” 

It was Lee’s first admission of his weakness against Google’s AI machine and also a dialing down of his confidence from two weeks ago, when he had predicted a 5-0 result in his favor. After watching Google’s presentation of how AlphaGo works, Lee said he thought a machine might be able to imitate human intuition, even though the intuition may not be as sharp as a person’s. A loss for Lee would be a historic moment for the AI community. Human errors are not his only vulnerability. Lee said that in playing against a machine, the absence of visual cues that human players use to read the reactions and psychology of their opponents puts him in unfamiliar territory. “In a human versus human game, it is important to read the other person’s energy and force. But in this match, it is impossible to read such things. It could feel like I’m playing alone,” Lee said. Because the number of possible Go board positions exceeds the number of atoms in
the universe, top players rely heavily on their intuition, said Demis Hassabis who heads Google’s DeepMind, the developer of AlphaGo. This has made Go one of the most complex games ever devised and the ultimate challenge for the AI experts, who had expected that it would take at least another decade for a computer to beat a professional Go player. That changed last year when AlphaGo defeated a European Go champion in a closed-door match later published in the journal Nature. Google’s DeepMind team created a system to narrow down a vast search space of near-infinite possible sequences of moves in the game. AlphaGo was rst trained to mimic experts’ Go moves based on data from about 100,000 Go games available online. Then it was programmed to play against itself and “learn” from its mistakes. The team also designed a system that enabled AlphaGo to anticipate the long-term results of each move and predict the winner. Using this approach, AlphaGo beat the European Go champion by searching through far fewer positions than those a traditional AI machine like DeepBlue, the famed IBM computer that defeated the world’s chess champion in 1997, would have to consider, Hassabis said AlphaGo also has other strengths as a machine. “I think the advantage of AlphaGo is that it will never get tired and it will not get intimidated either,” Hassabis said Lee said he hopes to hold onto his title, but also wants to remind audiences that the game is not all about victory. Known as baduk in Korean and weiqi in Chinese, Go is more than a game in Asia. Players’ moves reflect their personalities and distinctive styles, and the life-and-death battles between black and white stones for territory on the 19 by 19 square grid are often used to illustrate important life lessons. “Of course I can lose. But a computer does not play by understanding the beauty of Go, the beauty of humans,” he said. “My job is to play Go more beautifully.” That beauty, many Go fans believe, is something a machine cannot replicate.

 

UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF WARNS OF IMPLICATIONS OF APPLE

The U.N. human rights chief says U.S. authorities “risk unlocking a Pandora’s Box” in their efforts to force Apple to create software to crack the security features on its phones, and is urging them to proceed with caution. Zeid Raad al-Hussein warned in a statement about the potential for “extremely damaging implications” on human rights, journalists, whistle-blowers, political dissidents and others. He said the case is “potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes” and criminal hackers. Through the courts, the FBI is trying to force Apple to help crack an encrypted iPhone used by a gunman behind a December shooting spree in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people. Zeid said the case centers on where the “key red line” should be set to protect people “from criminals and repression.”

DOES AN EXTREMIST’S iPHONE CONTAIN A “CYBER PATHOGEN”?

A local prosecutor has o ered an unusual justi cation for forcing Apple to help hack an iPhone used by a San Bernardino mass killer: The phone might have been “used as a weapon” to introduce malicious software to county computer systems. San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos acknowledged to The Associated Press that there’s no evidence of malicious software in the county’s computer network. But he added, “I wouldn’t call it a total hypothetical.”  Computer security experts say the prospect is unlikely. By late Friday (04), the prosecutor’s claim had sparked a wave of social media postings, many of which mocked the DA’s use of the non-technical term “cyber pathogen” to describe the supposed malware. Apple has resisted calls to help unlock the phone, arguing that building a software tool to override the phone’s security features would render other iPhones vulnerable to criminals and government authorities around the world. Investigators, meanwhile, are eager to see if the phone used by shooter Syed Farook - one issued by Farook’s employer, the county health department - contains any useful information about other suspects. 

But the idea that Farook might have used the phone to transmit a “lying-dormant cyber pathogen” into county data systems is a new one. Ramos’ o face, however, cited it in a court ling Thursday among several other reasons to support the government’s position. “This was a county employee that murdered 14 people and injured 22,” Ramos said. “Did he use the county’s infrastructure? Did he hack into that infrastructure? I don’t know. In order for me to really put that issue to rest, there is one piece of evidence that would absolutely let us know that, and that would be the iPhone.” The argument drew condemnation from one software expert who has signed a brief in support of Apple’s position. “Ramos’s statements are not only misleading to the court, but amount to blatant fear mongering,” independent software researcher Jonathan Zdziarski wrote in a post on his personal blog. Other security experts who haven’t taken sides also discounted the scenario. “It’s de nitely possible, technically, but it doesn’t seem to me at rst glance to be likely,” said David Meltzer, a computer security expert and chief research o cer at Tripwire, a commercial IT security rm. He said Apple’s iPhone operating system is a relatively closed environment that’s designed so users can’t easily introduce their own programs. Ramos, meanwhile, said he’d heard about social media posts that mocked the term “cyber pathogen,” which is not generally used by tech experts. “When they do that,” he said, “they’re mocking the victims of this crime, of this horrible terrorist attack.”

US APPEALS RULING ON ACCESSING DATA IN NEW YORK iPHONE CASE

Calling a York judge’s ruling “an unprecedented limitation” on judicial authority, the Justice Department has asked a Brooklyn federal court to reverse a decision that said Apple Inc. wasn’t required to pry open a locked iPhone. The government’s 45-page brief comes a week after U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein issued his decision in a routine drug case, dealing a blow to the Obama administration in its battle with the tech giant over privacy and public safety. Lawyers for the Justice Department called their Monday request routine, arguing that the case is not about asking Apple to do anything new, or to create a “master key” to access all iPhones. Apple has opposed the government’s move in a separate case involving the shooter who killed 14 people Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, California. Apples  pushback has fueled a national debate over digital privacy rights and national security. Apple had previously assailed the government’s move, saying U.S. officials were seeking “dangerous power” through the courts and trampling on the company’s constitutional rights. The Brooklyn case involves a government request that is less onerous for Apple and its phone technology. The so-called extraction technique works on an older iPhone operating system and has been used dozens of times before to assist investigators. The California and New York cases both hinge on the government’s interpretation of the centuries-old All Writs Act. The new cases present another challenge for federal courts, which have to sort out how a law that is used to help government investigators square privacy and encryption in the digital age. The government asserted in court papers Monday that Orenstein’s ruling in New York is “an unprecedented limitation on” judicial authority and that his legal “analysis goes far a eld of the circumstances of this case.” It also stated that the government “does not have any adequate alternatives” to obtaining Apple’s assistance because attempting to guess the passcode would trigger the phone’s auto-erase security feature. Federal prosecutors cited several examples in which Apple has extracted data from a locked device under the law, including a child exploitation case in New York, a narcotics case in Florida and another exploitation case in Washington state.

Apple responded Monday: “Judge Orenstein ruled the FBI’s request would ‘thoroughly undermine fundamental principles of the Constitution’ and we agree. We share the judge’s concern that misuse of the All Writs Act would start us down a slippery slope that threatens everyone’s safety and privacy.” In October, Orenstein invited Apple to challenge the government’s use of the 1789 law that compelled the company to help the government obtain iPhone data in criminal cases. Since then, lawyers say Apple has opposed requests to help extract information from over a dozen iPhones in California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. In the California case, officials are looking for access to the phone used by Syed Farook but owned by San Bernardino County, where he was a health inspector. Federal investigators say the attack by Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, was at least partly inspired by the Islamic State group. The couple died later in a gun battle with police.  FBI Director James Comey told a House judiciary panel last week that the government was “asking Apple to take the vicious guard dog away and let us pick the lock” on the iPhone. Should Apple create the specialized software to allow the FBI to hack the iPhone in California, Comey said it would take 26 minutes to do what’s known as a brute force attack - testing multiple passcodes in quick, computational succession. Apple has said that being forced to extract information from an iPhone, no matter the circumstance, “could threaten the trust between Apple and its customers and substantially tarnish the Apple brand.”

BMW SHOWS OFF CONCEPT CAR FOR THE SELF- DRIVING FUTURE

 

Luxury automaker BMW AG is showing o a sleek concept car aimed at a future in which drivers choose between the pleasures of high-performance driving and letting the car take control. The company unveiled the Vision Next 100 at ceremonies Monday for the company’s 100th birthday at Munich’s Olympic Hall. The car offers a choice of driver-controlled or vehicle-controlled operations. In driver mode, the car indicates the ideal driving line and speed; in “ease” or autonomous mode,  the steering wheel retracts and the driver and front- seat passenger can turn to face each other.

Concept cars suggest what future production models might look like Auto executives said last week at the Geneva International Motor Show that some elements of autonomous driving could begin being introduced around the end of this decade. 

 

VERIZON TO PAY $ 1.4M IN 'SUPERCOOKIE' FCC SETTLEMENT

Verizon will pay a $1.35 million fine over its “supercookie” that the government said followed phone customers on the Internet without their permission. Verizon will also have to get an explicit “yes” from customers for some kinds of tracking. The supercookies landed their name because they were hard, or near-impossible, to block. Verizon uses them to deliver targeted ads to cellphone customers. The company wants to expand its advertising and media business and bought AOL for its digital ad technology in 2015. The Federal Communications Commission said Monday that it found that Verizon began using the supercookies with consumers in December 2012, but didn’t disclose the program until October 2014. Verizon updated its privacy policy to disclose the trackers in March 2015 and gave people an option then to opt out. The FCC settlement says consumers now must opt in to letting Verizon share data with a third party. But for data-collection and sharing within Verizon itself, the company can choose to have customers either opt in or automatically do it and give consumers the option to stop it, a less stringent requirement.

The New York company has already changed some practices that critics considered most invasive. In an emailed statement, the company said that the FCC  settlement recognizes that it had already made adjustments to its ad programs that give consumers more choices. Nate Cardozo, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy watchdog that had been critical of the supercookies, said the settlement was an “unqualified win” for consumers. “Today’s order will mean that other companies contemplating similar involuntary tracking will think twice before proceeding without explicit consumer consent,” he wrote in an email.

RUBICON PROJECT CARVES OUT PROFITABLE NICHE IN DIGITAL ADS

You may not be familiar with the Rubicon Project, but chances are its technology helped pick some of the ads you might have seen on your phone or personal computer. Rubicon serves as a matchmaker between digital publishers trying to sell ads and marketers looking for the best place to promote their products and services. The Los Angeles company, though small, has been increasing its influence in the $170 billion digital advertising market. More than 1,500 publishers and tens of thousands of advertisers rely on Rubicon to figure out which marketing messages are best suited to the different audiences that gravitate toward certain websites and apps. The company says it processes 7 trillion requests per month using about 60,000 different algorithms. Last year, Rubicon managed more than $1 billion in ad spending. That’s a paltry amount compared to market leaders Google and Facebook, which last year sold a combined $87 billion in advertising. But its exchange for mobile ads ranks as the third largest behind those of Google and Twitter. The 8-year-old company recently posted its rst full-year pro t, helping to lift its stock back above its April 2014 initial public offering price of $15. The shares ended recently were trading between $17 and $18. Gregory Raifman, Rubicon’s president, recently discussed the state of the digital ad market with The Associated Press. The interview has been edited for clarity and length. Q: Rubicon Project’s revenue nearly doubled last year to $248.5 million. What is driving that? A: We provide a comprehensive solution for buyers and sellers. Google and Facebook operate in their own walled gardens. We are the only one that operates in an open Web environment. We are now reaching well over 1 billion users. So if you are an advertiser that wants to reach an audience at scale across mobile, desktop and video, then you have to be working with Rubicon Project. 

Q:How are you able to figure out which ads are most likely to appeal to specific audiences?

A: The biggest brands in the world have data about what their consumers want. Publishers have other data on why users come to their site. Our job is to match the data of the buyer with the data of the seller in a way that creates the best environment at the best price.

Q: We are seeing more ways to block digital ads from appearing on screens. How does that a ect Rubicon?

A: From our perspective, ad blocking is an opportunity. Good advertising follows good content. If you are working with really good content providers, you are typically going to find better and better advertising. Consumers will typically react well to quality advertising. They will react poorly to low-end advertising.

Q: Any thoughts on where the industry is heading?

A: There are not that many that can say their industry is growing as quickly as ours. We feel like Rubicon Project is playing a central role. I often joke that this industry changes so rapidly that in three years you could build a whole new company out of your existing company. 

CHINA LOOKS TO RUMP UP INTERNET GROWTH, AND ITS CONTROLS

China's government has highlighted big data, encryption technology and “core technologies” such as semiconductors as the key elements of its push to grow into a tech powerhouse, according to a new five-year plan released Saturday that envisages the Internet as a major source of growth as well as a potential risk. Even as it highlighted the need to improve Internet infrastructure to rural areas and unlock the digital economy’s potential, Chinese economic planners called for a more secure and better managed Web, with enhanced Internet control systems, Internet security laws and real- name registration policies. Chinese officials including Internet czar Lu Wei have played down concerns over what critics have described as China’s expanding Web censorship, saying that it is the Chinese government’s sovereign prerogative and a necessary measure to maintain domestic order. China’s development plan calls for a better cybersecurity approval system and more “precise” Web management to “clean up illegal and bad information.” The plan also calls for a multilateral, democratic, transparent and international governance system and active participation in international Internet governance efforts. Premier Li Keqiang highlighted the promise of the Internet, saying Saturday that various traditional sectors, ranging from manufacturing to government to health care, need to connect to the Web and raise their e ciency as part of an overarching national strategy called “Internet Plus.” He vowed to raise research and technology spending to account for 2.5 percent of gross domestic product in the five years through 2020, which he said would mark a “remarkable achievement.” The five-year plan calls for all families in large cities to have access to 100 megabyte- per-second Internet service and broadband coverage reaching 98 percent of the population in incorporated villages. At the same time, Chinese leaders, wary of over- relying on foreign technology, will seek to boost China’s homegrown industry and cut down on imports - a strategy that has drawn complaints from trade partners like the United States.  Similar to previous years, when Chinese leaders highlighted industries such as e-commerce as a growth focus, the new draft of China’s development plan specifically elevated big data and cloud computing, relatively new and promising fields that Chinese industry experts view as not yet cornered by U.S. companies that dominate other parts of the technology market. The plan also calls for China to catch up on “core” technologies such as semiconductors and basic computer parts and software, as well as encryption technology. China’s campaign to beef up its chip technology has encountered political resistance from the United States. China’s national chip champion, Tsinghua Unigroup, said last month that it would abandon its attempt to acquire a stake in California data storage rm Western Digital, the second deal it has scrapped because of opposition from U.S. regulators who do not want sensitive technology to fall into Chinese hands. 

FUN HOMES CAST: NEW MUSICAL TAKES DURING SPOTIFY VISIT

The Broadway musical “Fun Home” had fun at a di erent home when cast members went to Spotify’s New York headquarters and knocked out new takes on their Tony Award-winning songs. The result, available online last Friday, marks the rst time a Broadway show has participated in Spotify Sessions, the music service’s streaming program of intimate in-studio performances and conversations.

During the six-song session, Gabriella Pizzolo sang an a capella version of “Ring of Keys” accompanied by a seven-member choir; Beth Malone sang “Telephone Wire” with the show’s composer, Jeanine Tesori, on piano; Judy Kuhn performed “Days and Days” with a harpist; and Pizzolo, Malone and Emily Skeggs joined for the show’s nale, “Flying Away,” with harp and piano. The session also included the song “Pony Girl,” a soft lullaby in the show that Tony-winning actor Michael Cerveris and his band, Loose Cattle, transformed into a violin-and-guitar foot stomper. And listeners will get a real treat with the seriously goofy “Changing My Raincoat,” in which Joel Perez raps and Roberta Colindrez beatboxes a hysterically funky take on the song “Changing My Major,” which was sung backstage to keep things loose. “It’s really fun because I love arrangements and when we were told about this and invited to revisit the songs, I thought, ‘Let’s really revisit them. Let’s let it be an opportunity,’”Tesori said afterward. 

The musical is based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel memoir about growing up with a closeted dad in the family’s funeral home business. It won the 2015 best musical Tony. The Spotify session was recorded Jan. 19 in front of several dozen Spotify employees. A panel that included Tesori, book writer and lyricist Lisa Kron and Bechdel discussed the making of the musical. Online: http://funhomebroadway.com 

FACEBOOK SET TO PAY MORE BRITISH TAX AFTER CRITICISM

Social media giant Facebook, which has been under re in Britain for its tax arrangements, said Friday it will stop routing its British sales through Ireland - a practice that had kept its U.K. tax bill extremely low. Facebook, Amazon and other multinationals have been criticized for using complex tax arrangements in Europe to drastically reduce their bills. Facebook said in a statement that from April, “U.K. sales made directly by our U.K. team will be booked in the U.K., not Ireland. Facebook U.K. will then record the revenue from these sales.” It said the change would “provide transparency to Facebook’s operations in the U.K.” 

Facebook paid just 4,327 pounds ($6,116) in corporation tax in 2014 in Britain, where it recorded 105 million pounds in revenue. The U.K. is one of its biggest markets outside the United States. The company did not say how much more tax it would pay under the new arrangements in Britain, where the corporation tax rate is 20 percent of taxable income. Facebook’s announcement follows Britain’s introduction of a “diverted profits tax” of 25 percent to deter companies from using complex international arrangements to cut their tax bills. 

HOW TO USE AIRPLAY TO STREAM IOS TO WINDOWS?

Airplay is an iOS feature that allows you to stream your iPhone or iPad’s display and audio onto a larger screen. This is great for looking at photos or watching videos you’ve recorded, without having to export them from your phone. By default, only Apple devices like an Apple TV support Airplay, but with a little workaround, you can get Airplay working on any Windows computer. We’ll be using an app called Lonelyscreen. You can download this app from the following URL: www.lonelyscreen.com/download

1. Once you’ve installed the app, open it and you’ll see a window with a screen icon and a receiver name underneath. You can rename the receiver to anything you like. Make sure the computer you’ve installed Lonelyscreen onto is on the same wireless network as your iPhone or iPad.

2. Swipe up from the bottom of your iPhone or iPad to access the Control Center and press the AirPlay button. You’ll see an option to connect to the Lonelyscreen receiver you’ve just set up.

3. Connect to it and your iPhone or iPad display will start mirroring to the Lonelyscreen window on your desktop.

If you ever lose the Lonelyscreen window or close it by accident, you can re-open it by clicking its icon in your taskbar tray.

4. You can even record what’s being streamed on Lonelyscreen. Press the arrow-up button on the lower-right saved to your username’s My Videos folder. 

UBER SOFTWARE TRACKS DRIVERS FOR HIGH SPEED SUDDEN STOPS

Using smartphone sensors to peek over its drivers’ shoulders, Uber is promising to keep a closer eye on their behavior - while discouraging speeding or slamming on the brakes. The global ride-hailing company on Wednesday announced an extensive test of new software that aims to increase safety by analyzing data from individual drivers and sending them daily reports about things like sudden acceleration, braking and whether they’re holding their phones when they drive. Trucking companies and eet operators collect similar information, while some auto insurers o er a discount to motorists who install a data- collection device in their cars. Uber, which is requiring drivers in several cities to participate, is eager to show that it’s making safety a priority at a time when some jurisdictions are mulling whether to impose stricter oversight on ride- hailing businesses. At the same time, Uber is also trying to ease some strains in its relationship with drivers, who work as independent contractors and in some cases have sued Uber over pay and working conditions. Earlier this month, Uber modified its app to give drivers more discretion to reject rides at certain times and to charge passengers who keep them waiting. For now, Uber says it isn’t using the new safety program to penalize drivers - or even to reward good driving habits - although the software measures some of the same behaviors that the company says are often cited by passengers when they give drivers a low rating. Repeated low ratings can lead to drivers being suspended from the service. One part of the new program uses data from the same gyroscope and motion sensors that let smartphone users play games on their devices. Uber drivers already use a smartphone app to book rides and track their progress via GPS. By adding additional software to the app, Uber says it can measure a car’s movement and gauge how fast the driver accelerates or brakes. The software sends a daily summary to each driver, including a count of how often the driver has sped up or hit the brakes too abruptly. But it’s an automated process: Uber says the software’s not intended to trigger human intervention in the case of a driver who’s dangerously erratic. Instead, the company says passengers should use the “help” button on its app. San Francisco-based Uber will also use sensors to measure “phone movement,” which may indicate the driver is clutching the phone while steering. 

Since that can be a distraction, Uber says it will notify drivers if it detects excessive phone movement through the day, with a reminder that it’s safer to leave the phone in a mounting device. As it tests this program, Uber may also send passengers an email or text, asking if their driver was holding the phone. A third feature will send drivers a notice immediately if they’re traveling at excessive speed, although for now, the notice will only be triggered if a car is moving more than 15 miles per hour above the posted limit on highways. A fourth program will send generic reminders to drivers about the benefits of taking a rest break. Uber says it’s testing the new features in a handful of large cities. About half of its drivers in each test city will get the new software, so the company can compare their behavior with the half that don’t receive the notifications. After two months, the company says it will evaluate the results and decide whether to expand the programs.

GOOGLE OFFERS NEW WAY FOR USERS TO MANAGE ADS, PERSONAL DATA

Google is trying to make it easier for you to manage the vast pool of information that it collects about your online activities across phones, computers and other devices. Among other things, a new privacy tool will enable the more than 1 billion people who use Google’s search engine and other services to block certain ads from appearing on every device that they log into, instead of having to make a special request on each individual machine. Some users of Google’s search engine, Gmail and Chrome browser will start receiving notices about the new option beginning Tuesday, but it will take several more weeks before it’s available to everyone. Google also is introducing a “My Activity” feature that will enable users to delete records of their online search requests and videos watched on YouTube in a single location instead of having to visit different websites or apps. Google’s business has been built on its longtime practice of monitoring its users’ online behavior in an effort to learn about their interests so it can show ads most likely to appeal to them. Those customized ads shown alongside Google’s search results and the content on millions of other websites have turned Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., into one of the world’s most pro table companies. In an effort to minimize complaints about invading people’s privacy, Google has long allowed its users to impose limits on how much data is accumulated about them and how many customized ads they see. Last year, Google also opened a “My Account” hub to serve as a one-stop shop for setting privacy and security controls. If they choose, users will now be able to authorize Google to store their web browsing histories in the “My Account” center. Until now, Google had been keeping personal information in different digital dossiers that sometimes require users to take multiple steps to manage specific pieces of data. For instance, someone annoyed by a Google- generated ad on their personal computer can prevent it from appearing again by clicking on an “X’’ in the corner. Taking that step currently won’t block the same ad from appearing on the targeted person’s smartphone a few hours later. Google says that will no longer happen if users allow it to stockpile web browsing histories in the “My Account” center.

'FIFTY-YEAR MISSION' IS COMPELLING 'STAR TREK' TIME LINE

“The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years” (Thomas Dunne Books), by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman have compiled hundreds of interviews to create “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years.” The saga of a failed TV show growing in popularity after it was canceled in 1969 is the status  of fairy tales. Conventions featuring the stars of the show were followed by movies, other TV shows, novels and fan-made films. The authors of this oral history have interviewed people directly involved with the franchise, including the actors, producers, writers and even famous fans of the series. The result is a compelling and fascinating time line. Fans of the show might worry that this book is nothing more than regurgitated material that has been revealed in earlier works. But “Fifty-Year Mission” gives everyone the freedom to express an opinion without fear of reprisal, creating an honest and eye-opening history. The layout of the book covers the first 25 years of the original series franchise, skipping the creation of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which will be covered in the second volume, scheduled for publication in August and bringing the story up to the present. Revealing insight and honesty showcase the stories of the original series, the creation of the animated series and the feature films up to “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.” Gross and Altman do a fine job letting the people speak for themselves while also providing pertinent details to provide background.

TARZAN REVISED, NEW FILM SWINGS BEYOND TROUBLED PAST

Tarzan may be among America’s classic fictional characters, but he’s not beyond reproach. Like so many well-worn tales, Edgar Rice Burroughs’Tarzan was borne of a vastly different time more than 100 years ago, when narratives rooted in colonialism, white saviors and African stereotypes were the norm. Throughout the decades, Tarzan also became a staple of Hollywood - there have been 52 authorized lms and seven television series that have told the tales of the King of the Jungle. For a bygone era, he’s the model romantic adventurer. Today, he’s a blemish on the history of literature and film. "The Legend of Tarzan ,” out Friday, is the first big-budget studio attempt to take on the character in the modern CGI world. Not only does the Warner Bros. lm show feats of derring-do that not so long ago could only be imagined, but it also endeavors to spin a more contemporary story for today’s sensibilities. As with Hollywood’s other recent adaptations of beloved tales stories with outmoded values, the “Tarzan” film makers did the delicate dance of trying to both preserve its original spirit while also correcting or even discarding its problematic origins. Their approach was to infuse the story with historical perspective, then bake it all into an action-adventure worthy of the superhero generation. Though there are those who would sooner see Tarzan left for the ages, the character’s roots are so deep that they’ve become archetypal. “Edgar Rice Burroughs just tapped into a primal myth of humanity,” said Scott Tracy Griffin, author of “Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration” and the forthcoming “Tarzan on Film.”“He is an orphan who is stranded and must find a way to his manhood  and to reclaim his legacy.” Alexander Skarsgård, the latest leading man to do the Tarzan yodel, noted too that “people have always been very fascinated by our more animalistic side and the notion of the noble savage.”  He also acknowledged those troubling origins. “At the time it was written, the way people in Western Europe and in America viewed indigenous people was quite horrific and it was quite common. It was widespread, the notion that they were an inferior race,” Skarsgård said. “It was very obviously important to steer away from the notion of like the white man coming down to Africa to save all the black people because they can’t save themselves ... the movie is about them kicking the colonizing force out of the country.” This lm introduces Tarzan at mid-life - already married to Jane (Margot Robbie) and living in England as Lord Greystoke - long past his vine- swinging days. When he receives an invitation from King Leopold to visit the Congo and see the Belgian leader’s work there, it’s George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) who convinces him to go and find out what’s really happening to the native people. The injection of 

Williams - a real-life historian and Civil War veteran who exposed atrocities of the Congo - into the Tarzan mythology helped director David Yates ground it in a historical context. It also helped them turn away from some of the story’s less palatable elements. “It wasn’t difficult to jettison those very old- fashioned aspects of the story because it doesn’t belong to our century,”Yates said. Jackson sees this Tarzan as purely naturalistic; a character whose unique worldview transcends political mores. “Even though the enslavement is there and you see it and he’s there to right that injustice,” he said. “He’s part of a world where he is integrated into that society and he understands his place in it ... It’s a story of somebody who’s environmentally correct and humanly correct with that particular world. Tarzan has been around so long that adjusting to the times has been as integral to his longevity as hanging vines. “Producers have been able to tap into whatever is going on in society and put Tarzan into that,” said Griffin. In the 1950s, there was a clear Western inspiration in the films, which gave way to a James Bond sensibility in the 1960s, he said. Even Disney had a take, although that 1999 animated lm just sidestepped native populations altogether. “The Legend of Tarzan” is certainly something new, and perhaps the most aggressive effort to right the wrongs, while still keeping Tarzan in the zeitgeist. Yet there are those who believe Tarzan should be left in the past. “In some ways it would be like trying to remake ‘Gone With the Wind’ now,” said Todd Boyd, professor of Cinema and Media Studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. “It’s just a very old set of images rooted in an old history that I think is really hard to redeem ... You can certainly dress it up with technology now. You can also cast it in such a way that it’s more diverse. But I just think that some things are perhaps beyond redemption.”