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Television fare that reflects the nation’s increasing racial and ethnic diversity is finding favor with industry gatekeepers and viewers, according to a study of the 2019-20 TV season released this week. Despite the pandemic that stymied Hollywood production, there were varying measures of growth in the hiring of people of color — and women — in on- and off-camera jobs, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in the report. In return, audience enthusiasm for shows such as creator-star Issa Rae’s “Insecure” and the miniseries “Watchmen” with Emmy-winning actor Regina King proved that inclusion pays business as well as social dividends, said Darnell Hunt, dean of the school’s social sciences division. The report’s biggest takeaway is “the mounting evidence for how important diversity is to today’s audience,” Hunt…

Toyota said it is testing hydrogen combustion engines in race cars as it works toward using the technology in commercial products. Such engines burn hydrogen as fuel instead of gasoline, much like rockets. The Japanese automaker said testing the technology in race cars will allow it to collect data and try to fix problems on-site. Toyota Motor Corp. announced earlier that it was developing a hydrogen combustion engine, which Ford Motor Co. and other automakers have also developed. Vehicles powered by such engines are different from fuel cell vehicles that use hydrogen to create electricity, and from electric or hybrid vehicles. “We want to propose multiple options to meet regional needs,” Naoyuki Sakamoto, chief engineer of the hydrogen-powered engine Corolla model, said in an online news conference. Sakamoto declined to…

Facebook the company is losing control of Facebook the product — not to mention the last shreds of its carefully crafted, decade-old image as a benevolent company just wanting to connect the world. Thousands of pages of internal documents provided to Congress by a former employee depict an internally conflicted company where data on the harms it causes is abundant, but solutions, much less the will to act on them, are halting at best. The crisis exposed by the documents shows how Facebook, despite its regularly avowed good intentions, appears to have slow-walked or sidelined efforts to address real harms the social network has magnified and sometimes created. They reveal numerous instances where researchers and rank-and-file workers uncovered deep-seated problems that the company then overlooked or ignored. Final responsibility for…

Hertz announced Monday that it will buy 100,000 electric vehicles from Tesla, one of the largest purchases of battery-powered cars in history and the latest evidence of the nation’s increasing commitment to EV technology. The news of the deal triggered a rally in Tesla’s stock, driving the carmaker’s market value over the $1 trillion mark for the first time. The purchase by one of the world’s leading rental car companies reflects its confidence that electric vehicles are gaining acceptance with environmentally minded consumers as an alternative to vehicles powered by petroleum-burning internal combustion engines. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mark Fields, Hertz’ interim CEO, said that Teslas are already arriving at the company’s sites and should be available for rental starting in November. Hertz said in its announcement…

The Lockdown Sessions Elton John The English singer-songwriter Elton John barely needs introducing, but lockdown recently reintroduced him to something he had long left behind: being a session musician working on other people’s records. Those people this time around include Dua Lipa, Charlie Puth and Nicki Minaj. FIVE FACTS: 1. This new album comprises a series of collaborations that came together via email and Zoom calls. 2. “I suddenly thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m a session musician,’” John recently recalled to Apple Music about an epiphany he had when making the album. 3. John has described Lipa as “the most professional, brilliant, well-rehearsed, humble, fabulous, glamorous, beautiful person.” 4. John enthused that, on the track “Finish Line”, Stevie Wonder “produced something very special that Stevie Wonder fans haven’t heard for…

Boeing Co. lost $109 million in the third quarter as it struggled with production problems that have held up deliveries of the 787, a large plane popular on long international airline routes. Boeing said it is building about two 787s a months and expects to stay at that low rate until deliveries resume. Problems including fuselage flaws are expected to cause $1 billion in “abnormal costs,” the company said, including a $183 million charge recorded in the third quarter. CEO David Calhoun said on CNBC that the company will resume 787 deliveries by following the same process of working with regulators that it used to bring back the 737 Max after two deadly crashes and a worldwide grounding. It took 18 months for Boeing to win regulatory approval of fixes…

Whether out of choice or necessity, many people spent less money in the last year and a half on things like entertainment, clothes and furniture. For some, that meant holding on to more of their income. If you were able to save some cash, you’ve set yourself up to withstand future financial crises, especially if you can continue saving. Keep growing your bank balance with these four pandemic-driven saving habits. 1. REEVALUATE SPENDING Consider whether some of the purchases you may have gone months without are necessary going forward. Or rethink how often you want to make them compared to before. For example, if you started to work from home, you might have saved money by making your lunch instead of eating out. If you return to the office, you…

Two years ago, Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store over concerns about the platform being used as a tool to trade and sell maids in the Mideast. After publicly promising to crack down, Facebook acknowledged in internal documents that it was “under-enforcing on confirmed abusive activity” that saw Filipina maids complaining on the social media site of being abused. Apple relented and Facebook and Instagram remained in the app store. But Facebook’s crackdown seems to have had a limited effect. Even today, a quick search for “khadima,”or“maids”in Arabic, will bring up accounts featuring posed photographs of Africans and South Asians with ages and prices listed next to their images. That’s even as the Philippines government has a team of workers that do nothing but scour…

Senators put executives from YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on the defensive this week, questioning them about what they’re doing to ensure young users’ safety on their platforms. Citing the harm that can come to vulnerable young people from the sites — ranging from eating disorders to exposure to sexually explicit content and material promoting addictive drugs — the lawmakers also sought the executives’ support for legislation bolstering protection of children on social media. But they received little firm commitment. “The problem is clear: Big Tech preys on children and teens to make more money,” Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said at a hearing by the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection. The subcommittee recently took testimony from a former Facebook data scientist, who laid out internal company research showing that the…

Growth in Microsoft’s cloud computing business helped push its profit up 24% in the July-September quarter over the same time last year. The Redmond, Washington-based tech company reported quarterly profit of $17.2 billion, or $2.27 per share, beating Wall Street expectations of $2.08 per share. Microsoft profits have soared throughout the pandemic thanks to ongoing demand for its software and cloud computing services for remote work and study. Microsoft posted revenue of $45.3 billion in its fiscal first quarter, up 22% from last year. Analysts had been looking for revenue of $44 billion, according to FactSet Research. Sales from what Microsoft calls its “intelligent cloud” segment, which includes server products and its Azure cloud computing platform, were $17 billion, up 31% from a year ago. The company has been fiercely…

A cool wind sweeps through the sands of “Dune,” Denis Villeneuve’s chilly, majestic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 science-fiction novel. Hot as it may be on Arrakis, the desert planet that draws the universe’s most powerful interests to its mineral-rich but inhospitable sands, Villeneuve’s film is a solemn slow burn. This “Dune,” a cool-headed colossus, erects a massive, brutalist architecture of otherworldly science-fiction to craft a big-screen spectacle of thundering splendor. It is, to be sure, rather cool to the touch. Villeneuve does atmospheric exteriors more than he does emotional interiors. In muted monochrome shades, rich textures and deep sonic soundscapes, his specialty — already familiar in the deep shadows of “Sicario,” “Arrival” and “Blade Runner 2049” — is invoking a severe ominousness. So “Dune” is a more somber…

Profits at payments giant Visa Inc. jumped in its most-recent quarter, driven by consumers and businesses getting back to spending on their credit and debit cards after the pandemic. The San Francisco-based company said Tuesday that it earned $3.58 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter that ended Sept. 30, or $1.65 a share. That’s was up from a profit of $2.14 billion, or 97 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time adjustments, Visa earned $1.62 a share, up 42% from a year earlier. Analysts had been expected $1.55 a share, according to FactSet. Visa’s results last year were hampered the pandemic-induced global slowdown in travel and economic activity, which cut the amount of money traveling on Visa’s credit and debit card networks. As economies worldwide…

U.S. officials issued new warnings about China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence and a range of advanced technologies that could eventually give Beijing a decisive military edge and possible dominance over health care and other essential sectors in America. The warnings include a renewed effort to inform business executives, academics and local and state government officials about the risks of accepting Chinese investment or expertise in key industries, officials at the National Counterintelligence and Security Center said. While the center does not intend to tell officials to reject Chinese investment, it will encourage efforts to control intellectual property and implement security measures. National security agencies under President Joe Biden’s administration are making an aggressive public push against China, which some officials have called the greatest strategic threat to the United States.…

The term “metaverse” seems to be everywhere. Facebook is hiring thousands of engineers in Europe to work on it, while video game companies are outlining their long-term visions for what some consider the next big thing online. The metaverse, which could spring up again when Facebook, is the latest buzzword to capture the tech industry’s imagination. It could be the future, or it could be the latest grandiose vision by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that doesn’t turn out as expected or isn’t widely adopted for years — if at all. Plus, many have concerns about a new online world tied to a social media giant that could get access to even more personal data and is accused of failing to stop harmful content. Here’s what this online world is all…

Facebook’s semi-independent oversight board says the company has fallen short of full disclosure on its internal system that exempts high-profile users from some or all of its content rules. Facebook “has not been fully forthcoming” with the overseers about its “XCheck,” or cross-check, system the board said in a report. It also said it will review the system and recommend how the social network giant could change it. The board started looking into the XCheck system last month after The Wall Street Journal reported that many VIP users abuse it, posting material that would cause ordinary users to be sanctioned — including for harassment and incitement of violence. For certain elite users, Facebook’s rules reportedly don’t seem to apply. There were at least 5.8 million exempted users as of last…

A continued rebound in digital ad spending at Google drove its parent company’s profit up 68% in the third quarter. Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc. said this week that it earned $18.94 billion, or $27.99 per share, in the July-September period. Revenue rose 41% to $65.12 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $23.73 per share on revenue of $63.53 billion. Shares nonetheless slipped 1.7% to $2,740 in after-hours trading. Google is the world’s dominant search engine, owns the biggest mobile operating system in Android and runs the behemoth video site YouTube. It holds 29% of the global $455 billion digital ads market, according to eMarketer, followed closely by Facebook. Both tech giants are benefiting as companies that scaled back on advertising last year during the pandemic pump more…

I’m Your Man To secure funds for a research trip, archeologist Dr. Alma Felser (Maren Eggert) of Berlin’s Pergamon Museum agrees to take part in an experiment where, for three weeks, she will live with Tom (Dan Stevens), a humanoid robot who has been programmed to make her happy. FIVE FACTS: 1. This movie is Germany’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film category of the 94th Academy Awards ceremony set to be held in 2022. 2. Dan Stevens is the only English member of the cast. 3. This is the first non-English film in which Stevens has appeared. 4. However, Stevens is fluent in German, having brushed up on the dialect in preparation for working on I’m Your Man. 5. Stevens recently revealed to CinemaBlend: “I hit that…

There’s a line that Bill Murray’s Harold Ross-like character Arthur Howitzer Jr, the editor of The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun, says a few times in Wes Anderson’s new movie that I can’t stop thinking about.“Just try to make it sound like you wrote it that way on purpose,”he gently advises his staff. It’s clever, sure, and just familiar enough to make you wonder if it is some well-known writing advice. But what’s especially striking is that it’s somehow both confident and self-deprecating —- a beautiful quip that’s full of insight and contradictions, not unlike Anderson films themselves. And it’s easy to wonder whether it’s a kind of window into Anderson’s mind, something he tells himself or was once told to make sense of his idiosyncratic aesthetic,…

There are some things no one wants to think about until they have to, like caregiving for your parents as they age and figuring out what happens to your finances when you die. But planning for these events now can spare you and your loved ones a lot of hassle later on. The first step is to simply talk about the inevitable. “Think about the people you care about. Would your life be better if you never brought this subject up? Or would everyone’s lives improve if you did?” says Lauryn Williams, a certified financial planner and owner of Worth Winning, a Dallas-based financial planning firm. “Getting the conversation going is a gamechanger for being able to tackle these topics,” she says. OK, your death and your parents getting older…

Conflicts over water are as old as history itself, but the massive Google data centers on the edge of this Oregon town on the Columbia River represent an emerging 21st century concern. Now a critical part of modern computing, data centers help people stream movies on Netflix, conduct transactions on PayPal, post updates on Facebook, store trillions of photos and more. But a single facility can also churn through millions of gallons of water per day to keep hot-running equipment cool. Google wants to build at least two more data centers in The Dalles, worrying some residents who fear there eventually won’t be enough water for everyone — including for area farms and fruit orchards, which are by far the biggest users. Across the United States, there has been some…