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LONG-AWAITED STREAMING SERVICE FINALLY MAKES DEBUT Have you sampled Disney+ yet? Yep, that’s right: as of approximately 12am ET on November 12, when Disney “flipped the switch” on Disney+, the eagerly-anticipated streaming service has been showing off its wares. It’s now available across the United States, Canada and the Netherlands, on almost every platform. But the stars of the show are, of course, the productions themselves, with both classic Disney content and intriguing new offerings awaiting viewers. FIRST… THE BASICS As aforementioned, the above three countries already have Disney+, and this coverage will gradually expand, with Australia and New Zealand getting the service from November 19. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Ireland will all have to wait until March 31, 2020 to gain access. Presuming you’re…

Nebraska’s rural areas are struggling with a major shortage of high-speed internet, and people who live there are likely paying more for service than their urban counterparts, according to a new report commissioned by state lawmakers. The report by the Rural Broadband Task Force says just 63% of rural Nebraskans have access to fixed, high-speed broadband service capable of handling downloads at 25 megabytes per second or faster. That’s the speed typically recommended to watch high-definition movies, use video-chatting services and download large data files. Most other rural areas have internet access, but at much lower speeds and with fewer providers to compete and drive down prices. And some remote corners of Nebraska still have no fixed service, forcing residents to use expensive, satellite-based internet or their cellphones. “There’s no…

Nike is ending a sales partnership with Amazon less than a month after the athletic gear company named an e-commerce veteran as its new chief executive. The company says it wants to create a more direct customer experience, but the announcement Wednesday is a setback for Amazon. Amazon is under pressure from big-name brands to cut back on fake goods from third-party sellers. Amazon’s third-party marketplace allows sellers to list their products directly on the site. It’s an important part of Amazon’s business since it allows Amazon to offer millions more products on its site. More than half of all products sold on Amazon last year came from third-party sellers. When Nike announced the pilot program with Amazon.com Inc. in 2017, it hoped that it would have more control over…

The 1953 painting by Rafael Tufiño Figueroa features his mother with a red scarf on her head, a determined look on her face and heavy expression lines, a depiction of a working-class woman that broke from conventional portraits of the time that focused largely on wealthy men. “Goyita” is one of more than 350 paintings from Puerto Rico that Google Arts & Culture digitized for the first time with help from “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who unveiled last week the online exhibition that features work from four Puerto Rico art institutions. The aim is to expose the world to Puerto Rico art, preserve it and help museums in the U.S. territory that are struggling to exhibit paintings given space constraints and budget cuts amid a 13-year recession. “It’s a flare…

The first thing director Roland Emmerich should do after his latest movie “Midway” hits theaters is apologize. Apologize to the visual effects crew, the stuntmen, the carpenters, the costumers and artists. He has squandered their considerable visual skill in retelling the crucial World War II battle at Midway by melding some of the best action sequences in years with the most banal of words. What’s the point of scouring 1941 Navy regulations to ground the real-life characters in authentic military gear if they say stuff like this: “I guess every battle needs a miracle.” What’s the point of locating the original blueprints of a gun, and then carefully recreating it, if the script calls for an airman to tell his pilot: “You fly like you don’t care if we come…

Earlier this fall Dr. Scott Solomon presented the results of a huge heart drug study to an audience of fellow cardiologists in Paris. The results Solomon was describing looked promising: Patients who took the medication had a lower rate of hospitalization and death than patients on a different drug. Then he showed his audience another number. “There were some gasps, or ‘Ooohs,’” Solomon, of Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, recalled recently. “A lot of people were disappointed.” One investment analyst reacted by reducing his forecast for peak sales of the drug — by $1 billion. What happened? The number that caused the gasps was 0.059. The audience was looking for something under 0.05. What it meant was that Solomon’s promising results had run afoul of a statistical concept you may…

Boeing hopes to resume deliveries of its 737 Max jet to airlines in December and win regulatory approval to restart commercial service with the plane in January. The company spelled out several steps that it needs to complete before the grounded plane can carry passengers again. Pilot training has emerged as a key issue around the plane’s return — and an area where Boeing failed when it introduced the plane in 2017. The timetable that the company laid out Monday would allow it to generate cash by delivering planes even before the Federal Aviation Administration approves new training material for pilots. Boeing said it has demonstrated changes to the plane during sessions with the FAA in a flight simulator. It still must show regulators those changes during one or more…

Huawei is paying its employees bonuses totaling more than $285 million as thanks for helping the Chinese tech giant cope with U.S. sanctions that threaten its smartphone and other businesses. Huawei scrambled to remove U.S. components from its products following curbs announced in May on access to American technology after Washington accused the company of being a security risk. It has unveiled a smartphone operating system it says can replace Google’s Android if necessary. Some 90,000 employees will share a 2 billion yuan ($285 million) bonus, or about 22,000 yuan ($3,100) each, according to a company announcement circulated this week on social media. In addition, Huawei’s full 180,000-member workforce will receive an additional month’s salary. Huawei Technologies Ltd. confirmed in a written statement the document was genuine but said it…

iPad OS and tvOS, in addition to Google’s Android OS, Amazon’s FireTV, LG’s webOS, Samsung’s Tizen and even the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the service looks set to be more-or-less everywhere in very short order. WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE WHEN YOU REGISTER OK, we know you’re probably impatient to learn about the actual shows and movies you could be gobbling up as a Disney+ subscriber. So with no further ado, let’s give you a rundown of an impressive lineup encompassing both well-established Disney standards and a few surprises. In fact, Disney has claimed “nearly 500 films and 7,500 episodes ” are already available to view right now. This being a Disney streaming service, you would naturally expect to see the timeless animated films that made Disney’s name…

SpaceX launched 60 mini satellites Monday, the second batch of an orbiting network meant to provide global internet coverage. The Falcon rocket blasted into the morning sky, marking the unprecedented fourth flight of a booster for SpaceX. The compact flat-panel satellites — just 575 pounds (260 kilograms) each — will join 60 launched in May. SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk wants to put thousands of these Starlink satellites in orbit, to offer high-speed internet service everywhere. He plans to start service next year in the northern U.S. and Canada, with global coverage for populated areas after 24 launches. Last month, Musk used an orbiting Starlink satellite to send a tweet: “Whoa, it worked!!” Employees gathered at company bases on both coasts cheered when the first-stage booster landed on…

The company shared news of the “world’s best pro notebook” on its website, rather than the usual fanfare it gives to new machines, a new move for the company as it moves away from the traditional October keynote and instead reveals products like the AirPods Pro online. Apple says that the new MacBook Pro was “designed for developers, photographers, filmmakers, scientists, music producers and anyone who relies on a Mac to create their life’s best work.” The Retina Display notebook features the latest 8-core processors, up to 64GB of memory, next-generation graphics with up to 8GB of VRAM and a new advanced thermal design. Apple also confirmed that a brand new Magic Keyboard had been introduced to the latest MacBook Pro, with a scissor mechanism and 1mmm travel to offer…

Dora and the Lost City of Gold Young explorer Dora (Isabela Moner) embarks on an adventure to save her parents and solve the seemingly impossible mystery behind a lost Incan civilization – joined by friends including Boots the monkey (Danny Trejo), cousin Diego (Jeff Wahlberg) and a ragtag group of teens. FIVE FACTS: 1. Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon television series Dora the Explorer. 2. The movie is directed by James Bobin, while other cast members include Eugenio Derbez, Michael Peña and Eva Longoria. 3. Isabela Moner told Forbes that she learned the Quechua language to play Dora. 4. Filming took place entirely on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018 . 5. Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge observed : “Whereas most of…

Woody Allen and Amazon.com have ended their legal battle. The filmmaker had sued Amazon in February after the online giant ended his 2017 contract without ever releasing a completed film, “A Rainy Day in New York.” Amazon had responded that Allen, whose daughter Dylan has accused him of molesting her when she was a girl, breached the 4-movie deal by making insensitive remarks about the #MeToo movement. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegations made by his daughter. In papers filed in U.S. District Court, Allen and Amazon agreed that the case should be dismissed without prejudice. Terms were not disclosed. “A Rainy Day in New York” was released overseas, but not in the U.S. Allen’s career has slowed in recent years, with several actors who had appeared in his films…

Amazon says it is expanding its footprint further into the traditional grocery-store business with a store it plans to open in Los Angeles next year. Amazon, which bought the upscale Whole Foods grocery chain in 2017, also operates 16 Amazon Go stores in several cities where people can pick up food and beverages, paying for them with the retailer’s phone app. But the Los Angeles Times reported this week that this new store will be more along the lines of traditional grocery stores with cashier stations. Amazon says the store will also be distinct from Whole Foods, although it didn’t explain how. It also did not reveal the store’s name. The Times says Amazon has listed four job openings for the store that is planned for the city’s Woodland Hills…

Germany on Wednesday hailed Tesla’s decision to build its first European factory in the country, days after the government said it would boost subsidies for buyers of electric cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during an awards ceremony in the German capital Tuesday evening that “we’ve decided to put the Tesla Gigafactory Europe in the Berlin area.” The company will also set up an engineering and design center in Berlin, Musk said. He wrote on Twitter that the new plant “will build batteries, powertrains & vehicles, starting with Model Y.” The Model Y is a small SUV scheduled to go on sale in the fall of 2020. It will start at $39,000 (35,400 euros) with a range of 230 miles (370 kilometers) per charge. German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier called…

European Union foreign ministers affirmed their support for the nuclear deal with Iran, after the Islamic Republic began enrichment work at its Fordo site in a fresh act of defiance that seems likely to spell the end of the painstakingly crafted international agreement. At talks in Brussels, the ministers mulled what action to take as they awaited a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency later Monday on whether Iran is still complying with its commitments. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the ministers underlined their “full commitment to the agreement that remains crucial for our security, even if it’s increasingly difficult to preserve it. We will continue our efforts to have a full implementation of the agreement.” The EU powers that signed the 2015 Iran nuclear…

that’s a very different question. It does, though, tempt a few of us to dream about what could be possible if these titans did formally link up their platforms in some way a few years from now. Instead of Apple and Disney actually merging with each other, could we at least see the giant of devices join forces with the giant of productions to create a near-invincible ‘super-Netflix’? Anything seems possible for these swaggering juggernauts in the years to come – and if such a partnership does ever happen, it’s well worth remembering that you first saw it suggested in this very magazine.…

With Tesla continuing to innovate in the automotive industry with eco-friendly, low-emission vehicles for businesses and consumers, we take a closer look at the company’s impact on the environment and explore its future plans for our roads, our homes, and our skies... SUSTAINABLE According to some, buying a Tesla is the best thing you can do for the planet if you want to reduce your carbon footprint and help to reverse the effects of global warming. Indeed, not only will you be reducing your reliance on fossil fuels, but you’ll be helping to lower the costs of batteries and helping to make a 100% renewable energy grid more affordable. The more demand there is for electric vehicles, the cheaper Teslas and other vehicles will become. “I think it’s probably fair…

Google announced a partnership with a large U.S. health care system aimed at modernizing its information system and providing new tools for doctors, in the tech giant’s latest foray into the health industry. Announcement of its arrangement with the Catholic health care system Ascension followed a Wall Street Journal report that Google had access to thousands of patient health records without doctors’ knowledge. Both companies stressed that their deal is compliant with federal health-privacy law. Unlike most of the data Google collects on individuals, health data is strictly regulated by the federal government. Google is providing cloud computing services to Ascension, which operates health centers in 21 states, mostly across the South and Midwest. It is also testing the use of artificial intelligence to examine health records and find patterns…

What You See Is What You Get Luke Combs The country music star’s second studio album builds on his recent EP The Prequel, with which it shares five songs, including the singles “Beer Never Broke My Heart” and “Even Though I’m Leaving”. It also features the track “1, 2 Many”, a collaboration with Brooks & Dunn. FIVE FACTS: 1. Combs was born Luke Albert Combs in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 2, 1990. 2. He moved to Asheville, North Carolina at the age of eight, and later relocated to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a music career. 3. His debut album, 2017’s This One’s for You, was number one on the Top Country Albums chart for 50 weeks , a record for a male artist on the chart. 4. Combs said…

When John Cena was offered an audio series about a former college football star chasing an NFL dream, he felt a personal connection to it right away. “The project really resonated with me because I played college football and didn’t know what I was going to do after my career ended,” Cena said. “When I read the script, I wanted to do it right away.” That project, “64th Man,” makes its debut on Audible on Thursday. Cena’s character in the 10-part series works at a grocery store and as a trainer at a gym while pursuing anything to get an NFL tryout. Cena starred on the offensive line at Division III Springfield College, where he was a captain and led the school to its first NCAA postseason appearance in 1998.…

The private companies that make voting equipment and build and maintain voter registration databases lack any meaningful federal oversight despite the crucial role they play in U.S. elections, leaving the nation’s electoral process vulnerable to attack, according to a new report. The Brennan Center for Justice this week issued the report, which calls on Congress to establish a framework for federal certification of election vendors. The authors say this could be established as a voluntary program similar to how voting machines are certified, with incentives for state and local election officials to use vendors that have completed the process. It would include the establishment of federal standards and the ability for federal officials to monitor compliance and address any violations. The report’s co-author Lawrence Norden acknowledged it was too late…

For decades, Huawei’s founder stayed out of sight as it grew to become the biggest maker of network gear for phone carriers and passed Apple as the No. 2 smartphone brand. Now, Ren Zhengfei is shedding that anonymity as China’s first global tech brand mobilizes to fight back against U.S. sanctions and warnings Huawei Technologies Ltd. is a security risk. The entrepreneur at the center of the Trump administration’s battle with Beijing over technology is a survivor of competition that drove Western rivals out of the market, brushes with financial disaster and job stress so severe he contemplated suicide. The 75-year-old former army engineer who worked his way out of childhood poverty sees American pressure as just the latest of the tests that have hardened him and his company. “For…

Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com reported more than $60 billion in sales Monday on Singles Day, an annual marketing event that is the world’s busiest online shopping day. The day was a temporary relief to retailers that face fading demand as Chinese consumers tighten their belts, anxious over slowing economic growth and the tariff war with Washington. University students created Singles Day in the 1990s as an alternative to Valentine’s Day for people without romantic partners. Alibaba adopted it as a marketing tool a decade ago. Rivals including JD.com, China’s biggest online direct retailer, and electronics seller Suning joined in. The tactic has caught on in other Asian countries, too. The creators picked Nov. 11 because the date is written with four singles — “11 11.” On Monday, retailers…