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PERILOUS STAKES FOR BOTH SUPERPOWERS You might have noticed that things haven’t been entirely harmonious between the U.S. and China lately – well, even less so than they normally are, we could say. Earlier this month, the Trump administration added Huawei to a trade blacklist that effectively prohibited American businesses from doing business with the Chinese tech titan. But what are the likely implications of this brewing spat for the U.S., China, Huawei and the world – including ordinary technology users? As one may expect, there has been a wide range of reactions to the U.S. government’s bold move, although there is at least consensus that it could be an extremely significant one insofar as the ongoing ‘trade war’ between the two countries is concerned. Indeed, it has been suggested…

When AllianceBernstein was still operating under secret code name “Project Stella” in Nashville last year, the global financial firm’s chief technology officers visited the city to see whether to locate its new headquarters here. Among their stops was the Nashville Software School, a 7-year-old program that has evolved from a scrappy startup to a pillar of the tech community that local business leaders are eager to celebrate. AllianceBernstein officials have since become a regular presence at the school’s demo days, and at least six recent graduates have joined the firm’s payroll. “We have hired a bunch of folks from his programs,” Karl Sprules, who leads technology and operations for AllianceBernstein, said. “We like what he is doing.” The “he” Sprules describes is John Wark, a laid-back and unassuming tech entrepreneur…

Global Payments will buy Total System Services in an all-stock deal valued at $21.5 billion, the third major acquisition in the payment technology sector this year. Traditional payment processors like Global Payments are consolidating as they compete increasingly with upstarts like PayPal and Square, which is led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. In March, Fidelity National Information Services said it would buy Worldpay for about $35 billion. In January, Fiserv bought First Data in a $22 billion all-stock deal. The payment service industry works behind the scenes to help complete the process for purchases. It was a simpler exercise when those transactions took place in person with a swipe of a card. But transactions have largely moved online and grown in complexity, forcing those background players to deal with multiple…

An upcoming book by Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph turned out differently than he had expected. Randolph’s “That Will Never Work” is coming out Sept. 17, Little, Brown and Company announced this week. Randolph had intended to write a how-to book, but ended up writing more about his life, working in lessons he learned along the way. He will also share some encounters with fellow business giants, like the time in the late 1990s when he and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings considered selling the company to Amazon.com. Randolph, who left Netflix in 2002, said he took a more personal approach at the suggestion of his editor, Phil Marino. He told during a recent interview that he wanted to write an “honest” memoir, covering both mistakes and triumphs.…

Aladdin (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Various Artists This is the official soundtrack of Disney’s new live-action remake of Aladdin, the classic animated film from 1992. That film’s composer Alan Menken is responsible for many of the tracks here, but songs performed by the new adaptation’s stars Will Smith, Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott also feature. FIVE FACTS: 1. Menken has called his new score “much more live-action in its textures and its tone” than the score of the original film. 2. The original film’s song “Arabian Nights” appears here, but with new lyrics written by Menken and the American songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. 3. The three songwriters have reworked another song, “Prince Ali”, from the original film to allow new Genie actor Will Smith to bring more…

Disneyland’s new Galaxy’s Edge attraction promises to transport visitors to a new locale in the Star Wars universe, but any who overstay their visit might not catch their ride on the Millennium Falcon. The theme park is expecting massive crowds when Galaxy’s Edge opens May 31, and has detailed plans on how to accommodate guests or help them “move along” with the aid of Stormtroopers. For the first three weeks, guests must have a reservation to enter and will be limited to four hours inside the immersive new land, the largest single-theme land inside a Disney park. It is spread out over 14 acres of rides and experiences, including shops selling personal droids, lightsabers, and Star Wars-appropriate food and drink. A special wristband will identify a visitor’s time window, and…

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials have issued a “mobility challenge” designed to attract new automotive technology for display and use during the 2020 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The $5 million initiative was announced Wednesday at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference. Whitmer says Michigan must keep an eye on building “smart infrastructure” because the “future is nearer than we think.” The idea is to showcase Michigan’s autonomous vehicle technology at the auto show, not only at the Cobo Center but by providing innovative transportation options for travel between the show and the airport, hotels and restaurants. A request for proposals was released Wednesday. State officials expect some companies responding will seek incentives while others will not.…

China has deployed an unlikely voice in its trade war with the U.S.: Trevor Noah of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. A brief clip from the comedian’s “If You Don’t Know, Now You Know” segment on Chinese equipment maker Huawei’s dominance in next-generation 5G mobile technology ran on state broadcaster CCTV’s national lunchtime news on Monday. It was part of a barrage of stories and commentaries attacking the U.S. stance in the standoff between the world’s two largest economies. Washington says Huawei, the leading supplier of telecom gear and No. 2 smartphone maker, is a security threat and is obliged to do the ruling Communist Party’s bidding. U.S. officials have provided no evidence for their assertions that the company, based in southern China’s Shenzhen, may use its equipment for espionage.…

House Speaker Robert DeLeo is assuring visitors to the Massachusetts Statehouse they’re not being subjected to facial recognition. In a written statement, the Winthrop Democrat says: “There is no such technology used at the State House.” The comment was part of a longer statement DeLeo’s office sent out late Thursday in response to students who had gathered at the Statehouse for several days to protest higher education costs. One of the protesters said he was told by an unnamed official that the Statehouse uses facial recognition to match the faces of people who walk through public entrances with law enforcement databases. DeLeo denies the use of facial recognition at the Statehouse. The Statehouse has been ramping up security, recently adding additional security cameras throughout the building.…

Apple’s flagship laptop has been supercharged with an 8-core Intel processor, doubling its performance. This week, we go hands-on with the new MacBook Pro and ask what’s next for the Mac lineup. With rumors suggesting that the arrival of a new Mac Pro and a 16-inch MacBook are just around the corner, 2019 could be Apple’s biggest year yet for hardware… MORE POWER, MORE PRO “With great power comes great capability,”says Apple of its new MacBook Pro. In a surprise release last week, Apple lifted the lid on the latest iteration of its most popular laptop, adding an 8-core option for the very first time. The new 13- and 15-inch models are the fastest Mac notebooks ever released, packing their punch with Intel’s 8th and 9th-generation processors and eight cores,…

NASA has launched the final stage of a four-year effort to develop a national traffic management system for drones, testing them in cities for the first time beyond the operator’s line of sight as businesses look in the future to unleash the unmanned devices in droves above busy streets and buildings. Multiple drones took to the air at the same time above downtown Reno this week in a series of simulations testing emerging technology that someday will be used to manage hundreds of thousands of small unmanned commercial aircraft delivering packages, pizzas and medical supplies. “This activity is the latest and most technical challenge we have done with unmanned aerial systems,”said David Korsmeyer, associate director of research and technology at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. An autonomous…

Before Instagram and Facebook, before selfies and filters that perfect selfies, there was Andy Warhol, using his art to imbue friends, family, celebrities — even himself — with a certain mystique. A retrospective of Warhol’s work on display in San Francisco captures the artist’s ability to use paintings, drawings, photographs and other mediums to create buzz-worthy personas the way people do now using social media. The idea of personal branding, “of how we can be who we want to be,” was something Warhol was trading on more than a half-century ago, said Donna De Salvo, deputy director for international initiatives and senior curator at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, where the exhibit originated . “He had a real understanding of something about American culture, which is now more…

It’s been a bit since moviegoers had the chance to catch up with Godzilla, five years in fact, which in cinematic franchise time feels like at least a few decades. In other words, it’s understandable if you go into “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” a little rusty on just what went down in Tokyo and San Francisco back in 2014. But ”Godzilla: King of the Monsters ” is a sequel in the loosest possible sense that requires minimal recall from the audience, which is likely a good thing for those whose brains have been overloaded with “Game of Thrones,” “Avengers” and “Star Wars” minutiae and mythology. Worry not, Godzilla is here to provide some old-fashioned summer spectacle, no CliffsNotes required. It’s a low bar, sure, but at least Godzilla is…

Christian Bale remembers hunkering down in front of a television set with his father to watch Formula One races, back in the glory days of Alain Prost, Jacques Laffite and Nelson Piquet. They even went to Brands Hatch before F1 left the circuit near Kent, England. So the actor who’s been behind the wheel of the Batmobile read a script about the infamous 1966 showdown between Ford and Ferrari at Le Mans, the racing aficionado jumped onboard. And when Matt Damon learned that Bale was already circling the project, the actor — no stranger to high-speed car chases from his Jason Bourne films — likewise jumped at the opportunity. The result is “Ford v Ferrari,” a film that comes out later this year focusing not only on the American manufacturers’…

Six months after a Chinese scientist was widely scorned for helping to make the world’s first gene-edited babies, he remains out of public view, and new information suggests that others may be interested in pursuing the same kind of work outside the United States. A fertility clinic in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai emailed scientist He Jiankui to seek training in gene editing, Stanford University bioethicist Dr. William Hurlbut said ahead of a speech at the World Science Festival in New York. Hurlbut, whose advice He often sought, said He told him that scientists from multiple countries and families with inherited health problems had messaged support and interest in altering the genes of embryos to prevent or treat disease. Hurlbut gave Media an email he said the Dubai…

More than 1,700 people walking on a University of Colorado campus were unknowingly photographed as part of a facial recognition research project funded by U.S. intelligence and military agencies, a newspaper reported. Professor Terrance Boult set up a long-range surveillance camera in an office window at the Colorado Springs campus. It captured more than 16,000 images of passersby during the spring semesters of 2012 and 2013, The Denver Post reported Monday. The research project, which was first reported by the Colorado Springs Independent, received funding from U.S. intelligence and military agencies, including the Office of Naval Research and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Boult’s research examined whether facial recognition algorithms could meet standards for use by the U.S. Navy. The research then aimed to improve the technology…

Walmart has hired a tech veteran whose resume includes stints at Amazon, Microsoft and Google for a newly elevated position of chief technology officer and chief development officer. Suresh Kumar, who was most recently at Google as its vice president and general manager of display, video, app ads and analytics, will report directly to Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon. The moves come as Walmart is trying to compete better with Amazon and other technology companies. Walmart Inc.’s former chief technology officer Jeremy King left the company in March to join Pinterest. The retailer emphasized that Kumar is not a replacement for King but rather assumes a much larger global role and will set the company’s technical strategy. King had reported to Walmart’s U.S e-commerce chief Marc Lore. Kumar starts July 8.…

Sports Illustrated magazine has been sold for $110 million to a company that specializes in managing fashion, entertainment and sports brands, including marketing rights to Shaquille O’Neal and Muhammad Ali. The seller, Meredith Corp., will continue running the print edition and the website SI.com for at least two years. Its editor and publisher are staying on, and the magazine will have editorial independence. The deal lets Sports Illustrated grow in new areas such as esports, while Meredith can continue to “produce independent, award-winning journalism and storytelling,” Sports Illustrated Editor-in-Chief Chris Stone said in a statement. It’s not clear what will happen after two years, though it’s possible Meredith and the new buyer, Authentic Brands Group, could extend their licensing deal, terms for which weren’t disclosed. The magazine is “so essential…

Captain Marvel Air Force pilot Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) crashes an experimental aircraft before being discovered by a technologically advanced alien race known as the Kree, who recruit her to the elite Starforce Military. Six years later, she escapes to Earth, where S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) helps her to uncover more of her mysterious past. FIVE FACTS: 1. In this film, the Kree clash with a rival alien race the Skrulls, who make their cinematic debut here. 2. Although Jackson reprises his familiar Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Nick Fury, he was digitally de-aged by 25 years in post-production to reflect the 1990s setting. 3. The film includes a posthumous appearance by late comic book legend Stan Lee as himself memorizing lines for his cameo role in…

Millie Bobby Brown may use brute force against demon monsters in “Stranger Things,” but the teenage actress relies more on intelligence to outsmart the 500-foot-tall behemoths in the new Godzilla film. Brown plays Madison Russell, the quick-witted 14-year-old daughter of two divorced scientists who are each thrust in the middle of an epic earth-shattering battle in “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.” “The characters are completely different. One’s got superpowers, and one doesn’t,” said Brown, who portrays the mysterious Eleven, who wields telekinetic superpowers in the Netflix sci-fi series “Stranger Things.” “I’ve never played a daughter before, so that was actually really quite different,” she said. “Usually I’m like adopted or like an orphan or something like that. I’ve never had a good upbringing in a project I’ve done.” The film…

Formula One expects to race the U.S. Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas for “many years to come,” a series official said, despite the track’s failed effort to secure $25 million in public money it was denied in 2018. Sean Bratches, F1’s managing director of commercial operations, suggested the series remains confident in the financial security of the Texas race. “We have a great relationship with (the track) and it is a highly regarded and valued part of our season,” Bratches said. “We look forward to the Grand Prix in Austin this October and for many years to come. (It) is a circuit that is loved by teams, drivers and fans.” The Circuit of the Americas relies heavily on annual payments from the state’s Major Events Reimbursement Program…

Two Russian crewmembers on the International Space Station ventured into open space Wednesday to conduct scientific research and help maintain the orbiting outpost. Oleg Kononenko and Alexey Ovchinin worked to retrieve scientific experiments intended to study the impact of space flight that were mounted on the space station’s exterior. They also cleaned one of the space station’s windows and performed other maintenance. The spacewalk is expected to last 6½ hours. It’s the fifth one for Kononenko and the first one for Ovchinin. Their crewmates — NASA’s Anne McClain, Nick Hague and Christina Koch and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency — are watching their progress from inside the orbiting outpost. Kononenko is set to return to Earth with McClain and Saint-Jacques next month following a 6 1/2-month stint in…