By THE NEW YORK TIMES from NYT Arts https://nyti.ms/2HMAaga
Friday, 31 May 2019
The Week in Arts: Idris Elba Revives Luther; Margaret Thatcher Sees the Queen
By THE NEW YORK TIMES from NYT Arts https://nyti.ms/2HMAaga
What’s on TV Saturday: ‘Ask Dr. Ruth’ and ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’
By JACLYN PEISER from NYT Arts https://nyti.ms/2Z16Yb2
On Politics: The Biggest Stories of the Week
By ISABELLA GRULLÓN PAZ from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2Z5VnaJ
How Fox News Uses White Supremacist Language
Thanks to Business Insider.
Open thread below...
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C&L's Late Nite Music Club With Redd Kross
Dating back since 1982, many of my summers have been soundtracked by Redd Kross. Even in the years they had not released anything new, something that they had put out in the past always made it a mixtape.
It's been since 2012 that the band has released new studio recordings. This tune just dropped on the world yesterday. Big loud hooks and grimy glam grooves. In other words, even though the entire album isn't out until late August, this song will be on any mix I mark "Summertime" throughout this upcoming season.
What are you listening to tonight?
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Fresno Grizzlies Lose Second Major Sponsor After AOC Video Fiasco
The Fresno Grizzlies ran a 3-minute scoreboard video tribute to Reagan on Memorial Day. Apparently, no one had bothered to actually watch the video first before it played in the ballpark. And if you believe that...
Source: Fresno Bee
Heineken International, which owns Dos Equis and Tecate beer, late on Thursday confirmed it has pulled its sponsorships for those brands from the Fresno Grizzlies over an inflammatory video shown during a doubleheader on Memorial Day.
Dos Equis tweeted the announcement Thursday afternoon.
Heineken International also confirmed to The Bee via email it had ended its relationship with the Grizzlies.
“Both Tecate and Dos Equis were sponsors of the Fresno Grizzlies,” said spokesperson Thomas Hunt. “We do not support those views expressed in the video, that was aired during the Fresno Grizzlies game on Memorial Day. For that reason, we have ended this relationship, effective immediately and have let the team know of our decision.”
Heineken International declined to disclose the value of the sponsorships.
The decision comes one day after Sun-Maid Growers ended its corporate sponsorship with the Grizzlies, the Washington Nationals’ Triple A affiliate.
The Grizzlies have generated national headlines for airing a video tribute that includes a montage of images equating Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the likes of North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un and former Cuban president Fidel Castro.
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Apple bumps the App Store cell connection download cap up to 200 MB
Good news: Apple now allows you to download bigger apps over a cellular connection than it used to.
Bad news: there’s still a cap, and you still can’t bypass it.
As noticed by 9to5Mac, the iOS App Store now lets you download apps up to 200 MB in size while on a cell network; anything bigger than that, and you’ll need to connect to WiFi. Before this change, the cap was 150 MB.
And if you’ve got an unlimited (be it actually unlimited or cough-cough-‘unlimited’) plan, or if you know you’ve got enough monthly data left to cover a big download, or you just really, really need a certain big app and WiFi just isn’t available? You’re still out of luck. That 200 MB cap hits everyone. People have found tricky, fleeting workarounds to bypass the cap over the years, but there’s no official “Yeah, yeah, the app is huge, I know.” button to click or power user setting to toggle.
The App Store being cautious about file size isn’t inherently a bad thing; with many users only getting an allotment of a couple gigs a month, a few accidental downloads over the cell networks can eat up that data quick. But it really does suck to open up an app you need and find it’s requiring some update that exceeds the cap, only to realize you’re nowhere near a friendly WiFi network. At least give us the choice, you know?
On the upside, most developers seem to be pretty aware of the cap; they’ll hack and slash their app install package until it squeaks under the limit, even if it means downloading more stuff through the app itself post-install. Now, at least, they’ve got 50 more megabytes of wiggle room to start with.
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William Barr's Blank Check To Use Intelligence For Political Ends Will Cost America Dearly
Donald Trump handed Attorney General William Barr a blank check to use any information from any intelligence agency to pursue his political opponents. That’s not just a step toward an authoritarian government; it’s the definition. And, as might be expected, it’s also the end of meaningful U.S. cooperation with intelligence agencies of other nations.
As CNN reports, Trump didn’t just authorize Barr to declassify any document he wants; he specifically stuck his fingers into two eyes of the Five Eyes international intelligence cooperative. "I hope he looks at the UK and I hope he looks at Australia and I hope he looks at Ukraine," Trump told reporters.
Trump is publicly announcing that his chief political officer is going to examine classified information from America’s allies, and use that information for political show trials. That’s a concern not just for what it says about the future of American justice, but also for what it says right now about America’s national security.
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What to expect from Apple’s WWDC 2019
Last year’s WWDC was a rare step away from hardware for the company, without a single device announcement. In fact, Apple’s gadget lines have largely been the subject of quiet releases over the past year. Ahead of the big Apple TV unveil, the company issued several press releases highlighting minor updates to flagship lines.
Just last week, it did the same for the MacBook, with a quiet announcement around the latest attempt to resolve longstanding issues with the malfunctioning keyboards. Next week’s developer show, on the other hand, is shaping up to be something altogether different. All signs point to a load of big announcements, including, potentially, some Pro hardware.
After a fairly slow I/O and Build, Apple could really make a splash here. The company’s not immune from larger industry trends, and is at a kind of crossroads at the moment. Its last financial call highlighted a shifting focus away from hardware, toward services and content. It makes sense — after all, smartphone sales have slowed across the board, just as the company started making massive investments in content through Apple TV+.
Of course, WWDC is, at its heart, a developer show. And while Monday’s kick-off keynote is very much for the public at large, the true nature of the show is highlighting what’s new with Apple’s various operating systems. Let’s start with the biggie.
iOS 13
The leaks have already started, and the big news so far is system-wide Dark Mode, following in the footsteps of MacOS. Easier on the eyes and battery, expect the update to take much the same form as it did on desktop, starting with Apple’s own apps, with more third-party partners arriving in the following months. Given how much more aggressive and engaged the iOS development community tends to be, however, I’d anticipate them falling in line a lot quicker this time out.
Bloomberg’s got a bunch of additional features for iOS 13, which has reportedly been operating under the codename “Yukon” (apparently Apple’s already at work on iOS 14, Azul, as well, which will have a 5G and AR focus).
Unsurprisingly, the Health app is getting a makeover. In fact, expect health to be a big focus for the company yet again at the event (see also: Apple Watch). Native support for Duet Display, like second screen iPad functionality, has been rumored to be in the works for a while. On a personal note, I can say it’s been a game changer for me, and native support will only make things better.
Mail, Maps and Home are said to be receiving updates as well. There will be bug fixes throughout, as well, said to make the system operate better on new and old systems alike. It’s a nice upgrade and, perhaps, tacit acknowledgment of the fact that consumers are simply holding onto their devices for longer these days.
MacOS 10.15
Much like the smartphone, the PC is very much in a transitional space — though its identity crisis has been ongoing since it was completely overshadowed by the smartphone. For many Windows PC makers, that’s meant novel approaches like second screens, which were all the rage at Computex in Taipei this week.
For Apple, however, that means definitively reclaiming the throne of king of the creative professionals, after an influx of competition from the likes of Microsoft and Samsung. But to start things off, the company’s going to once again borrow liberally from iOS.
Last year the company showed off a trio of apps — News, Stocks and Voice Memos — as a preview of the upcoming ability to port iOS apps to the desktop. That attempt to foster Mac app development, codenamed Marzipan (Apple’s all in on the fun codenames this year) will take center stage. Other iOS cribbed features include Screen Time, iMessage effects and Siri shortcuts, along with updates to a handful of existing Mac apps.
Mac hardware
What’s really exciting here, however, is the long-awaited arrival of Mac Pro. I’m going to tell you to take this one with a grain of salt, just because, well, we’ve all been burned before. As previously noted, Apple hit pause on the category, which plans to completely revamp the high-end desktop. The iMac Pro has addressed the need for some, but for many pros with demanding workflows, there’s been a trash can-shaped hole in their heart.
Just about all signs appear to point to the the long-awaited refresh arriving next week. Ditto for a recently rumored 31.6-inch, 6K pro display, which would fit nicely alongside the Pro and the smoldering ashes of your checkbook.
Also
Apple’s most recent event was all about Apple TV. The company had a LOT to show off on that front, and while the redesigned app has already arrived, expect the company to continue talking up Apple TV+, the forthcoming billion-dollar, cable-killing, premium-content offering from the company.
Last time Apple talked up the Apple Watch, it had some transit news to discuss. That goes live in New York tomorrow, by the way. This time out, expect a lot on the health front. That’s been the company’s focus for a while now, both as a way to distinguish the product from a flood of fellow wearables and to get it taken more seriously by the FDA and, by extension, healthcare providers. Menstrual tracking and a feature for keeping track of medications appear to be in the works.
So, too, are new Voice Memos, Calculator and Apple Books apps.
The party gets started Monday at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. We’ll be there with a live blog, breaking news and unicorn skull shards in tow.
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Uber lost another $1B last quarter
Uber posted losses of $1 billion on revenue of $3.1 billion for the first quarter of 2019 in what was the company’s first earnings report as a public company. Gross bookings rose 34% to $14.6 billion in the same time period, as Uber Eats continued to show notable growth.
Amid both positive and negative stock predictions, NYSE: UBER fluctuated ahead of the news, ultimately closing down .25% at $39.90 per share.
Analysts anticipated an adjusted net loss per share of 76 cents on earnings of about $3.1 billion, according to FactSet. Uber, in its IPO paperwork, said it expected first-quarter losses to fall between $1 billion and $1.1 billion.
“Earlier this month we took the important step of becoming a public company, and we are now focused on executing our strategy to become a one-stop shop for local transportation and commerce,” Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. “In the first quarter, engagement across our platform was higher than ever, with an average of 17 million trips per day and an annualized gross bookings run-rate of $59 billion.”
Uber has traded below its IPO price in the three weeks since its rocky debut on The New York Stock Exchange. The company priced its IPO at $45 per share in early May, raising $8.1 billion in the process. The following morning, the business opened at a disappointing $42 a share, sending shockwaves through the tech ecosystem, which had predicted an IPO pop on par with Lyft’s, at least.
Uber’s performance on the public market has been a letdown. Investors, even Wall Street experts, had anticipated an initial market cap in the ballpark of $100 billion. Instead, Uber currently sits at a valuation of about $67 billion, or $5 billion lower than the $72 billion valuation it earned with its last private financing.
Uber’s core business, ride-hailing, is growing much slower than other segments of the massive business. While overall revenues grew 20% from the same period last year, revenues in the company’s ride-hail department grew only 9%. Uber Eats revenue shot up 89% while its gross bookings grew 108%.
Uber’s competitor Lyft, for its part, is trading well below its IPO price of $72 per share, closing down 2.5% Thursday at $56 apiece. Its market cap today is approximately $16 billion, or just above its $15.1 billion Series I valuation. Lyft posted its first earnings report just days before Uber completed its historic IPO earlier this month.
Lyft posted first-quarter revenues of $776 million on losses of $1.14 billion, including $894 million in IPO-related expenses. The company’s revenues surpassed Wall Street estimates of $740 million while losses came in much higher than expected.
“The first quarter was a strong start to an important year, our first as a public company,” Lyft co-founder and chief executive officer Logan Green said in a statement. “Our performance was driven by the increased demand for our network and multi-modal platform, as Active Riders grew 46 percent and revenue grew 95 percent year-over-year. Transportation is one of the largest segments of our economy and we are still in the very early stages of an enormous secular shift from personal car ownership to Transportation-as-a-Service.”
Lyft said adjusted net losses came in at $211.5 million compared to $228.4 million in the first quarter of 2018. It expects revenue of more than $800 million on adjusted EBITDA losses of between $270 million and $280 million for the second quarter of 2019. For the entire year, Lyft projects roughly $3.3 billion in total revenue on adjusted EBITDA losses of about $1.2 billion.
Pinterest, another well-known unicorn to recently IPO, shared tepid financials in what was also its first earnings report as a public company. The visual search engine posted revenues of $202 million on losses of $41.4 million for the three months ending March 31, 2019. The numbers surpassed Wall Street’s revenue estimates of about $200 million and represented significant growth from last year’s Q1 revenues of $131 million. Losses, however, came in roughly three times higher than estimates of 32 cents per share.
Pinterest went public in April, rising 25% during its first day trading on the NYSE. The company is now trading well below its $45 IPO price, however, closing Thursday at $25.5 per share with a market cap of about $14 billion.
Uber and Lyft’s lukewarm IPOs have shed light on Wall Street’s uncertainty toward highly priced unicorns. Many are now questioning how future venture-backed companies, particularly those in unproven industries like ride-hailing or autonomous vehicles, will fare as public companies.
This post is updating.
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‘Gato Roboto’ and ‘Dig Dog’ put pixelated pets to work in gleeful gaming homages
Drawing inspiration from games of yore but with dog and cat protagonists that signal light adventures rather than grim, dark ones, Gato Roboto and Dig Dog are easy to recommend to anyone looking to waste a couple hours this weekend. Not only that, but the latter was developed in a fascinating and inspiring way.
Both games share a 1-bit aesthetic that goes back many years but most recently was popularized by the inimitable Downwell and recently used to wonderful effect in both Return of the Obra Dinn and Minit. This is a limitation that frees the developer from certain concerns while also challenging them to present the player with all the information they need with only two colors, or in Dig Dog’s case a couple more (but not a lot).
In the latter game, you play as a dog, digging for bones among a series of procedurally generated landscapes populated by enemies and hazards. Dig Dug is the obvious callback in the name, but gameplay is more bouncy and spontaneous rather than the slower, strategic digging of the arcade classic.
On every stage you’re tasked with collecting a bone that’s somewhere near the bottom, while avoiding various types of enemies and traps or, if you so choose, destroying them and occasionally yielding coins. These coins can be traded with a merchant who appears on some stages, offering various gameplay perks like a longer dash or higher jump.
Get it! Get the bone!
The simple controls let you jump, dig, and do a midair dash that kills enemies — that’s pretty much it. The rest is down to moment-to-moment choices: dig around that enemy or go through them? If I go this way will I trap myself in this hole? Is it worth attacking that bat nest for a coin or will it be too hard to get out alive?
Collected bones contribute towards unlocking new stages with different, more dangerous enemies and devious traps. It gives a sense of progression even when you only get a bone or two, as does your dog rocketing back upwards in a brief but satisfying zoomies celebration every time. So even when you die, and you will die a lot, you feel like you’re working towards something.
It’s a great time-waster and you won’t exhaust its challenges for hours of gameplay; it’s also very easy to pick up and play a few stages of, since a whole life might last less than a minute. At $4 it’s an easy one to recommend.
Interestingly, Dig Dog was developed by its creator with only minimal use of his hands. A repetitive stress condition made it painful and inadvisable for him to code using the keyboard, so he uses a voice-based coding system instead. If I had been told I couldn’t type any more, I’d probably just take up a new career, so I admire Rusty Moyher for his tenacity. He made a video about the process here, if you’re curious:
Gato Roboto, for Switch and PC, is a much more complicated game, though not nearly so much as its inspirations, the NES classics Metroid and Blaster Master. In Gato Roboto, as in those games, you explore a large world filled with monsters and tunnels, fighting bosses and outfitting yourself with new abilities, which in turn let you explore the world further.
This one isn’t as big and open as recent popular “metroidvanias” like Hollow Knight or Ori and the Blind Forest — it’s really much more like a linear action-adventure game in the style of metroidvanias.
The idea is that you’ve crash-landed on a planet after tracking a mysterious signal, but the spaceman aboard the ship is trapped — you play his cat, Kiki, who must explore the planet in his stead.
At first (or shall I say fur-st) you really are just a cat, but you’re soon equipped with a power suit that lets you jump and shoot like any other action game. However, you frequently have to jump out of it to get into a smaller tunnel or enter water, in which the suit can’t operate (and the cat only barely). In this respect it’s a bit like Blaster Master, in which your pilot could dismount and explore caves in top-down fashion — an innovation that made the game one of my favorites for the system. (If you haven’t played the Switch remake, Blaster Master Zero, I implore you to.)
Gato Roboto isn’t as taxing or complex as its predecessors, but it’s not really meant to be. It’s a non-stop romp where you always have a goal or an obstacle to overcome. The 1-bit graphics are so well executed that I stopped noticing them after a minute or two — the pixel art is very clear and only rarely does the lack of color cause any confusion whatever.
Like Dig Dog and Downwell before it, you can pick up color schemes to change the palette, a purely aesthetic choice but a fun collectible (some are quite horrid). The occasional secret and branching path keeps your brain working a little bit, but not too much.
The game is friendly and forgiving, but I will say that the bosses present rather serious difficulty spikes, and you may, as I did, find yourself dying over and over to them because they’re a hundred times more dangerous than ordinary enemies or environmental hazards. Fortunately the game is (kitty) littered with save points and, for the most part, the bosses are not overlong encounters. I still raged pretty hard on a couple of them.
It’s twice the price of Dig Dog, a whopping $8. I can safely say it’s worth the price of two coffees. Don’t hesitate.
These pleasant distractions should while away a few hours, and to me they represent a healthy gaming culture that can look back on its past and find inspiration, then choose to make something new and old at the same time.
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Ferrari’s first plug-in hybrid is here — and it’s faster than ever
Ferrari has finally cracked open the door for electrification. The Italian supercar manufacturer unveiled the SF90 Stradale, its first plug-in hybrid.
Purists might turn their noses up to Stradale’s mere 15.5 miles of all electric range. But it’s a milestone for Ferrari nonetheless, and marks a shift in the company’s views and portfolio.
Now, some of the important nuts and bolts. The Stradale has a V8 turbo engine that produces 780 cv (or about 769 horsepower), which the company says is the highest power output of any 8-cylinder Ferraris in its history. Another 216 hp is produced by three electric motors. The motors are located between the engine and 8-speed dual clutch transmission on the rear axle, and two on the front axle.
When combined, the vehicle can travel from 0 to 62 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds.
You can check out the video below to see the supercar in action. Wait — and listen — for the moment when the driver switches to electric power.
The driver can place the Stradale in eDrive mode — Ferrari’s branding for all-electric mode. When the internal combustion engine is turned off, the two independent front motors can deliver a maximum speed of about 83 mph. That’s slow compared to the car’s top speed of 211 mph, which is achieved when the combustion engine is activated. Reverse only uses eDrive mode.
The default setting for the Stradale is to run as a hybrid. The vehicle also has a performance setting, a mode that keeps the internal gas engine running because the priority is more on charging the battery than on efficiency. This mode gives the driver instant and full power.
Then there’s the tech inside the vehicle. The aeronautically designed cockpit has a heads-up display unit that projects information on the front windscreen and in the driver’s field of view. Ferrari has adopted a “hands on the wheel” philosophy in its design. The touch controls are on the steering wheel, which includes a small touch pad on the right side, Voice and cruise controls are on the left-hand spoke of the wheel.
Ferrari has also taken design cues from Formula 1. For instance, the rotary switch for cruise control is a solution derived directly from the Formula 1 car.
Ferrari hasn’t released details on the price yet, nor has it provided information on when the Stradale is coming to market.
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Audi works with Fleetonomy to monitor and manage fleet utilization for its on-demand program
Audi just completed a trial with Israeli company Fleetonomy as part of a potential wider rollout of the Israeli company’s fleet monitoring and management services designed to improve utilization.
Using Fleetonomy’s tools that provide predictive analytics of fleet utilization, Audi was able to improve the overall efficiency and utilization of its on-demand services.
“Audi has always aspired to provide a great experience by advancing through innovation and technology. By taking an innovative multi-service approach, Fleetonomy’s platform showed great success in improving fleet efficiency while simultaneously reducing costs associated with utilization and operation according to fleet constraints,” said Nils Noack, Mobility Strategy, Audi Business Innovation GmbH. “We’re looking forward to exploring further the opportunity to leverage Fleetonomy’s AI-based fleet management platforms and to pushing Audi’s vision of innovative mobility services.”
Car companies around the world are rolling out on-demand or rental programs for their fleets as a way to replace traditional car ownership. Audi launched its on-demand program back in 2015 and has a new version, Audi Select, which rolled out in 2018.
Using data from Germany and San Francisco, Fleetonomy was able to predict demand and move supply of the Audi fleet around to rebalance vehicle availability in real time, the company said.
“As the industry transforms, automotive manufacturers are expanding their role as providers of on-demand transportation services and are looking for efficient ways to manage their fleets according to dynamic demand and supply,” said Fleetnomy co-founder and CEO Israel Duanis, in a statement. “Fleetonomy provides unique fleet management solutions that help fleet operators automate, optimize and manage smart transportation services that meet current and future industry needs. We are very excited to have taken part in this project and are confident that Fleetonomy can positively influence overall efficiency, as well as enhance Audi’s smart transportation management capabilities in the future.”
Late last year, Fleetonomy snagged $3 million from investors, including Vertex Ventures, with participation from Kardan Ventures and VectoIQ.
Now the company will look to expand on its success with other automakers, as well as deepen its relationship with Audi.
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Google Play cracks down on marijuana apps, loot boxes and more
On Wednesday, Google rolled out new policies around kids’ apps on Google Play following an FTC complaint claiming a lack of attention to apps’ compliance with children’s privacy laws, and other rules around content. However, kids’ apps weren’t the only area being addressed this week. As it turns out, Google also cracked down on loot boxes and marijuana apps, while also expanding sections detailing prohibitions around hate speech, sexual content and counterfeit goods, among other things.
The two more notable changes include a crackdown on “loot boxes” and a ban on apps that offer marijuana delivery — while the service providers’ apps can remain, the actual ordering process has to take place outside of the app itself, Google said.
Specifically, Google will no longer allow apps offering the ability to order marijuana through an in-app shopping cart, those that assist users in the delivery or pickup of marijuana or those that facilitate the sale of THC products.
This isn’t a huge surprise — Apple already bans apps that allow for the sale of marijuana, tobacco or other controlled substances in a similar fashion. On iOS, apps like Eaze and Weedmaps are allowed, but they don’t offer an ordering function. That’s the same policy Google is now applying on Google Play.
This is a complex subject for Google, Apple and other app marketplace providers to tackle. Though some states have legalized the sale of marijuana, the laws vary. And it’s still illegal according to the federal government. Opting out of playing middleman here is probably the right step for app marketplace platforms.
That said, we understand Google has no intention of outright banning marijuana ordering and delivery apps.
The company knows they’re popular and wants them to stay. It’s even giving them a grace period of 30 days to make changes, and is working with the affected app developers to ensure they’ll remain accessible.
“These apps simply need to move the shopping cart flow outside of the app itself to be compliant with this new policy,” a spokesperson explained. “We’ve been in contact with many of the developers and are working with them to answer any technical questions and help them implement the changes without customer disruption.”
Another big change impacts loot boxes — a form of gambling popular among gamers. Essentially, people pay a fee to receive a random selection of in-game items, some of which may be rare or valuable. Loot boxes have been heavily criticized for a variety of reasons, including their negative effect on gameplay and how they’re often marketed to children.
Last week, a new Senate bill was introduced with bipartisan support that would prohibit the sale of loot boxes to children, and fine those in violation.
Google Play hasn’t gone so far as to ban loot boxes entirely, but instead says games have to now disclose the odds of getting each item.
In addition to these changes, Google rolled out a handful of more minor updates, detailed on its Developer Policy Center website.
Here, Google says it has expanded the definition of what it considers sexual content to include a variety of new examples, like illustrations of sexual poses, content depicting sexual aids and fetishes and depictions of nudity that wouldn’t be appropriate in a public context. It also added “content that is lewd or profane,” according to Android Police, which compared the old and new versions of the policy.
Definitions that are somewhat “open to interpretation” is something that Apple commonly uses to gain better editorial control over its own App Store. By adding a ban of “lewd or profane” content, Google can opt to reject apps that aren’t covered by other examples.
Google also expanded its list of examples around hate speech to include: “compilations of assertions intended to prove that a protected group is inhuman, inferior or worthy of being hated;” “apps that contain theories about a protected group possessing negative characteristics (e.g. malicious, corrupt, evil, etc.), or explicitly or implicitly claims the group is a threat;” and “content or speech trying to encourage others to believe that people should be hated or discriminated against because they are a member of a protected group.”
Additional changes include an update to the Intellectual Property policy that more clearly prohibits the sale or promotion for sale of counterfeit goods within an app; a clarification of the User Generated Content policy to explicitly prohibit monetization features that encourage objectionable behavior by users; and an update to the Gambling policy, with more examples.
A Google spokesperson says the company regularly updates its Play Store developer policies in accordance with best practices and legal regulations around the world. However, the most recent set of changes err on the side of getting ahead of increased regulation — not only in terms of kids’ apps and data privacy, but also other areas now under legal scrutiny, like loot boxes and marijuana sales.
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The Slack origin story
Let’s rewind a decade. It’s 2009. Vancouver, Canada.
Stewart Butterfield, known already for his part in building Flickr, a photo-sharing service acquired by Yahoo in 2005, decided to try his hand — again — at building a game. Flickr had been a failed attempt at a game called Game Neverending followed by a big pivot. This time, Butterfield would make it work.
To make his dreams a reality, he joined forces with Flickr’s original chief software architect Cal Henderson, as well as former Flickr employees Eric Costello and Serguei Mourachov, who like himself, had served some time at Yahoo after the acquisition. Together, they would build Tiny Speck, the company behind an artful, non-combat massively multiplayer online game.
Years later, Butterfield would pull off a pivot more massive than his last. Slack, born from the ashes of his fantastical game, would lead a shift toward online productivity tools that fundamentally change the way people work.
Glitch is born
In mid-2009, former TechCrunch reporter-turned-venture-capitalist M.G. Siegler wrote one of the first stories on Butterfield’s mysterious startup plans.
“So what is Tiny Speck all about?” Siegler wrote. “That is still not entirely clear. The word on the street has been that it’s some kind of new social gaming endeavor, but all they’ll say on the site is ‘we are working on something huge and fun and we need help.’”
Siegler would go on to invest in Slack as a general partner at GV, the venture capital arm of Alphabet.
“Clearly this is a creative project,” Siegler added. “It almost sounds like they’re making an animated movie. As awesome as that would be, with people like Henderson on board, you can bet there’s impressive engineering going on to turn this all into a game of some sort (if that is in fact what this is all about).”
After months of speculation, Tiny Speck unveiled its project: Glitch, an online game set inside the brains of 11 giants. It would be free with in-game purchases available and eventually, a paid subscription for power users.
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Susan Fowler’s memoir has a title and a release date
Susan Fowler’s forthcoming memoir, titled “Whistleblower,” is scheduled to hit bookshelves March 3, 2020. The book will be available for pre-order beginning June 12.
In late 2017, Penguin Random House imprint Viking Books acquired the rights to the memoir, which chronicles the harassment and discrimination Fowler faced during her tenure as a site reliability engineer at Uber.
Her memoir “will expose the systemic flaws rampant in the startup culture,” with “previously unreported details of what happened after she went public with the harassment and discrimination she faced [at Uber],” according to Viking. Additionally, it will touch on themes such as women’s role in the American economy, navigating challenging work environments, with an “eye-popping depiction and broad indictment of a work culture where a woman can do absolutely everything right and still encounter tremendous obstacles.”
Twenty-eight-year-old Fowler is best known for her infamous blog post, “Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber,” published in 2017. The 3,000-word essay detailed the sexist bro-culture rampant at the fast-growing ride-hailing giant, as well as its human resources department’s negligence. Unintentionally, the writing made Fowler an overnight celebrity in the tech world, with leaders praising her for her bravery.
The blog post sparked a movement that ultimately led to the ouster of Uber’s founding chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick, and some 20 other Uber employees accused of sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior. Kalanick was replaced by former Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi, who has since led the business’ highly anticipated initial public offering.
Fowler, alongside Tarana Burke, Ashley Judd and others, was named a Time Person of the Year in 2017, named on Vanity Fair’s New Establishment List, along with countless other accolades.
Exercising her writing chops, Fowler joined Stripe as the editor-in-chief of its quarterly publication, Increment, before getting scooped up by The New York Times, where she now works as an editor of the opinion section. Previously, she authored two books on computer programming.
In addition to “Whistleblower,” a movie documenting Fowler’s story is in the works. Oscar-nominated “Hidden Figures” screenwriter Allison Schroeder and former Disney executive and producer Kristin Burr have signed on to develop the film, titled “Disruptors.”
“The Disaster Artist” producer Erin Westerman is credited with landing the project for Good Universe, an independent film production company, and will oversee its production. Westerman told Deadline in late 2017 that the “project is an anthem for women and an important reminder of the power of one female voice.”
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‘Lion King’ director Jon Favreau explains why he’s remaking an animated classic
Disney has been cranking out live-action remakes of its animated library for the past few years — in fact, Tim Burton’s “Dumbo” just left theaters, and Guy Ritchie’s take on “Aladdin” is currently at the top of the box office.
But these distinctions get tricky with the growing reliance on computer-generated visual effects. “The Jungle Book,” for example, mostly features a single live actor (Neel Sethi as Mowgli) interacting with CGI animals. And “The Lion King” — scheduled for release on July 19 — takes that approach even further: Everything you see onscreen has been created on a computer.
I got a chance to visit the production in Los Angeles back in December 2017, where I participated in a group interview with “Jungle Book” and “Lion King” director Jon Favreau. When asked whether he considers this a live-action or animated movie, he said, “It’s difficult, because it’s neither, really.”
“There’s no real animals and there’s no real cameras and there’s not even any performance that’s being captured,” Favreau acknowledged. “There’s underlying [performance] data that’s real, but everything is coming through the hands of artists.”
At the same time, he argued that it would be “misleading” to call this an animated film. For one thing, the visuals aren’t stylized in the way you’d expect in a cartoon. Instead, the aim was to create animals that look even more realistic than the ones in “The Jungle Book” — Favreau said the footage should feel like “a BBC documentary,” albeit one where the lions talk and sing.
“Between the quality of the rendering and the techniques we’re using, it starts to hopefully feel like you’re watching something that’s not a visual effects production, but something where you’re just looking into a world that’s very realistic,” he continued. “And emotionally, feels as realistic as if you’re watching live creatures. And that’s kind of the trick here, because I don’t think anybody wants to see another animated ‘Lion King,’ because it still holds up really, really well.”
To achieve this, Favreau said he wanted this to have “the feeling of a live-action shoot,” including the way he shot the actors (Donald Glover plays Simba, Beyoncé plays Nala and James Earl Jones returns as Mufasa). Given the goal of creating photorealistic animals, Favreau said the standard motion-capture approach didn’t make sense, but he still wanted the actors to “overlap and perform together and improvise and do whatever we want.”
So he brought them together in a soundproofed stage, and they performed “standing up, almost like you would in a motion-capture stage — except no tracking markers, no data, no metadata’s being recorded, it’s only long-lens video cameras to get their faces and performances.”
Favreau compared this to shooting the original “Iron Man,” where he “tried to have multiple cameras and let Gwyneth [Paltrow] and Robert [Downey Jr.] improv when I could, because there’s so much of the movie you can’t change, because it’s visual effects.”
And even when he wasn’t working with actors, Favreau still “shot” the scenes with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. That meant building a virtual Serengeti using the Unity game engine, then adding the digital equivalent of real-world production elements like lights and dolly tracks. The filmmakers could put on Vive VR headsets to explore the world, use iPads to adjust the various elements and then shoot scenes using a virtual camera.
“That’s the way I learned how to direct,” Favreau said. “It wasn’t sitting, looking over somebody’s shoulder [on a] computer. It was being in a real location. There’s something about being in a real 3D environment that makes it — I don’t know, just the parts of my brain are firing that fire on a real movie.”
To be clear, those virtual scenes aren’t what you’ll actually see in the theater. Instead, they provided guidance for the animators to create far more detailed shots.
Favreau said that in a sense, he was trying to resist the complete freedom that the computer-generated approach can bring. Even in the case of using iPads to tweak the virtual world, he ended up restricting who had access, “because on a movie set you can’t just walk over and move a branch — you have to have the set dresser do that, otherwise you lose track of everything.”
“I find that what the flexibility of digital production has done is given the opportunity for people to postpone being decisive,” he said. “It used to be if, you know, you built a big animatronic dinosaur, you had to make sure you got that shot right and framed right and it worked … And so, part of this experiment is to see if we really lock in early, as animated films do, and spend all of our time refining.”
As for why he’s going through all this effort to remake a film that, by his own admission, holds up really well, Favreau said he was inspired by the success of the stage musical: “People will go see the stage show, and they’ll also see the movie, and you could love both of them and see them as two different things.” Similarly, he said his team set out to “create something that feels like a completely different medium than either of those two.”
And of course, there’s the durability of the original story and songs.
“I want to highlight, really, what’s in there from the original,” Favreau said. “It’s the whole circle of life and bad things happen, good things happen. Not every scene in the movie is fun to watch … There’s tragedy in it, but ultimately what I like about it is that somehow, after that whole experience, you walk away feeling inspired and hopeful. Which is how I like my stories.”
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Google announces new privacy requirements for Chrome extensions
Google today announced two major changes to how it expects Chrome extension developers to protect their users’ privacy. Starting this summer, extension developers are required to only request access to the data they need to implement their features — and nothing more. In addition, the company is expanding the number of extension developers who will have to post privacy policies.
The company is also announcing changes to how third-party developers can use the Google Drive API to provide their users access to files there.
All of this is part of Google’s Project Strobe, an effort the company launched last year to reconsider how third-party developers can access data in your Google account and on your Android devices. It was Project Strobe, for example, that detected the issues with Google+’s APIs that hastened the shutdown of the company’s failed social network. It also extends some of the work on Chrome extensions the company announced last October.
“Third-party apps and websites create services that millions of people use to get things done and customize their online experience,” Google Fellow and VP of Engineering Ben Smith writes in today’s announcement. “To make this ecosystem successful, people need to be confident their data is secure, and developers need clear rules of the road.”
With today’s announcements, Google aims to provide these rules. For extension developers, that means that if they need multiple permissions to implement a feature, they must access the least amount of data possible, for example. Previously, that’s something the company recommended. Now, it’s required.
Previously, only developers who write extensions that handle personal or sensitive data had to post privacy policies. Going forward, this requirement will also include extensions that handle any user-provided content and personal communications. “Of course, extensions must continue to be transparent in how they handle user data, disclosing the collection, use and sharing of that data,” Smith adds.
As for the Drive API, Google is essentially locking down the service a bit more and limiting third-party access to specific files. Apps that need broader access, including backup services, will have to be verified by Google. The Drive API changes won’t go into effect until next year, though.
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CrunchMatch returns to simplify networking at Disrupt SF 2019
Ready to squeeze every bit of opportunity out of TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019? TechCrunch’s flagship event returns to the Moscone North Convention Center on October 2-4 and — with more than 10,000 attendees — the networking opportunities are infinite. Your time, however, is not. Don’t worry, though. We’ve got your back — with CrunchMatch.
Get strategic with your time at Disrupt with CrunchMatch, TC’s free business match-making service. Here’s how to zero in on the people and connections that matter most to your business.
Create a profile listing your specific criteria, goals and interests. CrunchMatch (powered by Brella) works a bit of algorithmic magic to find like-minded startuppers and will suggest matches and, subject to your approval, propose meeting times and send meeting requests.
Everyone attending Disrupt SF can use CrunchMatch — founders looking for developers, investors in search of hot prospects, technology service providers eager for new customers, founders looking for marketing help — the list is endless.
How effective is CrunchMatch? In 2018, the program facilitated more than 3,000 meetings. And Yoolbox — makers of a portable wireless charger — says the connections it made through CrunchMatch helped Yoolbox increase its distribution.
You’ll be able to access CrunchMatch through the Disrupt App (when it launches in September). After you sign up, you’ll identify your role (developer, service provider, founder, etc.) and the type of people you want to connect with at Disrupt. CrunchMatch will get to work and do the rest.
You’ll find more than 10,000 tech founders, investors, developers, engineers and startup fans at Disrupt San Francisco 2019. CrunchMatch will help you cut through the noise, network efficiently and save you a whole lotta time and shoe leather. Get your super early-bird passes today and save up to $1,800 on passes, and we’ll see you in October!
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt San Francisco 2019? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.
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Why ICS security startup Dragos’ CEO puts a premium on people not profits
Written in its company’s handbook, there’s one rule for working at Dragos. “Don’t be an asshole.”
“The first key to our success is our people and that we hire good people,” said Robert Lee, the company’s founder and chief executive, in an interview with TechCrunch. “I think building a successful team is about having a standard and saying that I expect you all to be adults and not need a million HR policies,” he said.
Lee’s management approach revolves around his company’s greatest asset — his staff. With 125 employees, the company has seen rapid growth since its founding in 2016 but puts great importance on maintaining the company’s relaxed but productive culture.
Lee said he doesn’t want to change its culture dynamics by growing too fast, micromanaging, or burdening his staff with strict expense policies. “If you’re stuck laid over at night, but you see there’s one seat left on a redeye and it’s a first class seat that’s going to cost six times more but it gets you home — go for it,” he said.
But he doesn’t compromise on his “don’t be an asshole” rule. “Say something sexist and a Slack channel? Yeah, you’re fired,” he said.
Lee founded Dragos after working as a former cyber warfare operations officer at the National Security Agency. Dragos works to secure industrial control systems (ICS), the necessary devices crucial to the continued operations of power plants, energy suppliers and other critical infrastructure.
Lee described ICS security as “all of the things in I.T. plus physics.” In other words, it’s about finding the threats targeting critical infrastructure facilities and understanding how the hackers work in order to stop hackers from controlling the gas turbines in power facility, for example.
Once a plot from a science fiction film, powerful malware like Stuxnet and Triton have emerged in recent years and targeted facilities — with near-disastrous consequences.
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Alibaba pumps $100 million into Vmate to grow its video app in India
Chinese tech giant Alibaba is doubling down on India’s burgeoning video market, looking to fight back local rival ByteDance, Google and Disney to gain its foothold in the nation. The company said today that it is pumping $100 million into Vmate, a three-year-old social video app owned by subsidiary UC Web.
Vmate was launched as a video streaming and short-video-sharing app in 2016. But in the years since, it has added features such as video downloads and 3-dimensional face emojis to expand its use cases. It has amassed 30 million users globally, and will use the capital to scale its business in India, the company told TechCrunch. Alibaba Group did not respond to TechCrunch’s questions about its ownership of the app.
The move comes as Alibaba revives its attempts to take on the growing social video apps market, something on which it has missed out completely in China. Vmate could potentially help it fill the gap in India. Many of the features Vmate offers are similar to those offered by ByteDance’s TikTok, which currently has more than 120 million active users in India. ByteDance, with a valuation of about $75 billion, has grown its business without taking money from either Alibaba or Tencent, the latter of which has launched its own TikTok-like apps with limited success.
Alibaba remains one of the biggest global investors in India’s e-commerce and food-tech markets. It has heavily invested in Paytm, BigBasket, Zomato and Snapdeal. It was also supposedly planning to launch a video streaming service in India last year — a rumor that was fueled after it acquired a majority stake in TicketNew, a Chennai-based online ticketing service.
UC Web, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, also counts India as one of its biggest markets. The browser maker has attempted to become a super app in India in recent years by including news and videos. In the last two years, it has been in talks with several bloggers and small publishers to host their articles directly on its platform, many people involved in the project told TechCrunch.
UC Web’s eponymous browser rose to stardom in the days of feature phones, but has since lost the lion’s share to Google Chrome as smartphones become more ubiquitous. Chrome ships as the default browser on most Android smartphones.
The major investment by Alibaba Group also serves as a testament to the growing popularity of video apps in India. Once cautious about each megabyte they spent on the internet, thrifty Indians have become heavy video consumers online as mobile data gets significantly cheaper in the country. Video apps are increasingly climbing up the charts on Google Play Store.
In an event for marketers late last year, YouTube said that India was the only nation where it had more unique users than its parent company Google. The video juggernaut had about 250 million active users in India at the end of 2017. The service, used by more than 2 billion users worldwide, has not revealed its India-specific user base since.
T-Series, the largest record label in India, became the first YouTube channel this week to claim more than 100 million subscribers. What’s even more noteworthy is that T-Series took 10 years to get to its first 10 million subscribers. The additional 90 million subscribers signed up to its channel in the last two years. Also fighting for users’ attention is Hotstar, which is owned by Disney. Earlier this month, it set a new global record for most simultaneous views on a live-streaming event.
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Wanda Sykes Reads Headlines That Must Be White People
Wanda Sykes plays "Oh, White People!" as she guest hosts for Ellen DeGeneres.
Hilarity ensues.
Open thread below...
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F-35 Dogfight Exercise Results In Yet Another 'Sky Penis'
A couple of years ago, Navy pilots perfected the 'sky penis'. This week saw another one.
Source: Military.com
Six F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, simulating aggressor air training accidentally created contrails that resembled a penis, base officials told Military.com
"We've seen the photos that have been circulating online from Tuesday afternoon," said spokeswoman Maj. Rebecca Heyse in an email. "The 56th Fighter Wing senior leadership reviewed the training tapes from the flight and confirmed that F-35s conducting standard fighter training maneuvers Tuesday afternoon in the Gladden and Bagdad military operating airspace resulted in the creation of the contrails.
"There was no nefarious or inappropriate behavior during the training flight," she continued. "The flight audio was reviewed by senior leadership, and it confirmed the statements by the pilots explaining what happened."
Just got off the phone with Luke AFB officials. Two F-35s went up against two other F-35s to simulate a dogfight. And what happened? They're maneuvers created an ACCIDENTAL sky penis contrail.
Luke says it was NOT an intentional sky penis, per review
More from me (ugggggh) soon
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The Things Everyone Should Know About Electability
“Electability” is the hottest word of the moment, on every Democrat’s mind for sure. Our sprawling, unwieldy, feisty, hyper-diverse party is united around one thing and one thing only: beating Donald Trump. As we should be, because this guy is a direct and total threat to our entire democracy.
But there are lots of myths about electability, and Democrats need to separate the myths from the facts to make a rational decision about who to support. Various candidates' strategies represent far more than one sensible school of thought about the best pathway to electability. Biden personifies the comfortable-as-an-old-shoe theory; Cory and Kamala's aim is to maximize the people of color vote; Bernie's focus is maximizing the youth vote and progressive energy (and minimizing the protest vote); Beto and Buttigieg are the fresh face/opposite of Trump candidates; Elizabeth Warren is running the "big ideas" campaign; and Inslee is prioritizing a bold transformation to a green economy. I’m not going to go over all those theories in detail because a lot of other people have done that and you probably already have a sense of what they are, but suffice to say they all have both some logic and some decent numerical analysis to back them up.
What I want to do instead is tell you some of the most important things you should know about the whole electability topic:
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Robert DeNiro Speaks To Robert Mueller
Robert DeNiro has never sugarcoated it regarding his feelings for Trump. And in an op-ed on Wednesday he spoke directly to Robert Mueller:
...the country needs to hear your voice. Your actual voice. And not just because you don’t want them to think that your actual voice sounds like Robert De Niro reading from cue cards, but because this is the report your country asked you to do, and now you must give it authority and clarity without, if I may use the term, obstruction...
And if, in fact, you have nothing further to say about the investigation, for your public testimony, you could just read from the report in response to questions from members of Congress. Your life has been a shining example of bravely and selflessly doing things for the good of our country. I urge you to leave your comfort zone and do that again.
You are the voice of the Mueller report. Let the country hear that voice.
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Disney And Netflix Consider Leaving Georgia Over Abortion Law
Uh oh.
As certain corporations made clear about anti-gay rights legislation, mega-corporations Netflix and Disney are warning Georgia that they'll leave the state if its stupid anti-woman abortion law takes effect. CNN:
Two of the world's biggest entertainment companies, Netflix and Disney, say they may stop producing movies and TV shows in Georgia if the state's new abortion law takes effect.
Disney will find it "very difficult" to film in Georgia if the new law takes effect, [Disney Chairman Bob] Iger told Reuters.
"I think many people who work for us will not want to work there, and we will have to heed their wishes in that regard. Right now, we are watching it very carefully," Iger said.
Disney followed on the heels of Netflix, which made similar noises on Tuesday.
BREAKING: @netflix says it will reconsider its entire investment in the state of Georgia if "heartbeat" abortion law is implemented. pic.twitter.com/DQDuLckKzr
— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) May 29, 2019
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Fox And Friends Covers For Trump's Crazed Presser: 'More Salesman-y Than Factual'
Donald Trump's favorite morning show Fox and Friends was on the warpath this morning, to rebuke and smear Robert Mueller, as well as defend their Lord and Savior, Donald Trump.
Presidential fluffer Pete Hegseth called the performance of Donald Trump's off-the-wall presser as "undeterred" and "unleashed."
A better description would be "manic and crazy."
Ainsley Earhardt promoted the deep-state conspiracy against Trump by banging the drums against Lisa Page and Peter Strzok.
Brian Kilmeade said he doesn't blame Trump for refusing "to look at the nuance" of Mueller's new statements and brought up Bill Clinton, but it was a few minutes later that Kilmeade finally admitted Trump lied throughout his rant. Kilmeade couched it thusly:
"So he’s trying to do that while saying two things I think is more salesman-y than factual. And I think it is ‘China wants to talk, and Iran wants to talk.’ That's where he's trying to push them, but I’m not sure that there they’re yet.”
Calling Trump "salesman-y" is moronic, even for Kilmeade. Trump always spews nonsense when he's confronted with negative stories caused by his OWN actions or inactions (Charlottesville) and always has problems with truth and reality.
This is a new defense. Usually, Trump's most dedicated minions claim he's "not a politician" and "always shoots from the hip," but now he's just "a little salesman-y."
Idgits.
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Trump's Energy Department Calls Methane 'Freedom Gas'
Several of us on Twitter could not believe this was true. It HAS to be "The Onion," right?
Energy Department paid staffers, in a public notice, refer to methane gas as "freedom gas" and "molecules of freedom." And they have plans to export this freedom around the globe, rather than commit to renewable energy that doesn't destroy our planet.
It's true. And your tax dollars paid them to write "freedom gas." Here's the Energy Department Press Release:
Orwell missed a few...
Freedom molecules/gas - > methane
Freedom rocks - > coal
Freedom weather - > hurricanes/tornadoes
Freedom resorts - > concentration camps
More...— Peter Gleick (@PeterGleick) May 29, 2019
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No, Donald, The Courts Cannot Stop Your Impeachment
Where is Inigo Montoya when you need him? Trump keeps saying he thinks he can't be impeached, and today his word vomit included the claim that the courts wouldn't allow it, but it's so clear he has no idea what the hell he's talking about. He thinks the Attorney General is the Mommy whose skirt he can hide behind when he gets into trouble, and he thinks the Supreme Court stamps his "Frequent Felony" card. When he's on his eleventh Felony, he gets that one for free. Or, as Elie Honig put it today on CNN, Trump thinks the Supreme Court is his own personal "Get Out Of Trouble Free" Card.
Kate Bolduan spent her entire hour on CNN today debunking all the lies in Trump's stupid press gaggle, and god love 'em all for hanging in there, I guess, but that meant her fact-checking his 17 minutes of bullsh*t took away from being able to inform us of other news. You know, like life-destroying tornadoes, climate change, families still being forced apart at the border, the inhumane assault on women's reproductive rights, the fact that Black people are harassed by cops simply for doing their jobs...things like that. But because so many Americans chose racism over a prepared, intelligent woman for president, here we are.
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Fox News Reports: William Barr 'Emphatically' Lied To Congress
Robert Mueller's eight-minute statement to the press proved that Trump's newly minted and handpicked attorney general William Barr lied under oath to Congress.
On Wednesday's Fox News Shepard Smith program, reporter Catherine Herridge highlighted the disparity between what Robert Mueller said about why he chose not to indict Trump on obstruction of justice, and what William Barr said under oath to Congress.
Herridge set up a side by side clip of both men this way.
She said, "We heard from the Special Counsel, a lot about the OLC opinion, the Office of Legal Counsel housed here at the Justice Department. It acts like an internal lawyer for the government, specifically the Attorney General and others in the Justice Department." What Mueller said today is that based on his opinion or the regulations. He would not indict a sitting president -- but this did not stop him from gathering evidence that could be used for further action."
Here's Robert Mueller clip:
"Under longstanding department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he's in office: that is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that too is prohibited. The special counsel's office is part of the Department of Justice and by regulation, was bound by that department policy. Charging the president with a crime is therefore not an option we could consider," Mueller said.
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Thursday, 30 May 2019
He’s a Professional Dancer, But His Stage Is the E Train
By JAIME LOWE from NYT Magazine https://nyti.ms/2WakUSW
Princess Nokia on Remaking Rap for a Queer, Feminist New York
By MATTHEW SCHNIPPER from NYT Magazine https://nyti.ms/30T5EIV
12 Performers Show What It Takes to Light Up the Stage
By Unknown Author from NYT Magazine https://nyti.ms/2HK5xbh
How Does a Normal Person Transform Into an Opera Singer?
By SAM ANDERSON from NYT Magazine https://nyti.ms/30TtCDY
The Nonstop Life (and Latin Beats) of Pedrito Martinez
By WESLEY MORRIS from NYT Magazine https://nyti.ms/30VoG1t
A 13-Year-Old Gospel Singer and the Hard Work of Making Music Your Life
By SUSAN DOMINUS from NYT Magazine https://nyti.ms/2Ww7bFw
The Life of a Working Female Comic: Late Nights, an 11-Year-Old in Tow
By ADRIAN NICOLE LeBLANC from NYT Magazine https://nyti.ms/2HKnRAS
Last of a Rare Breed: The Manhattan Piano Player
By MARK BINELLI from NYT Magazine https://nyti.ms/2MhQOZk
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