fortune--2020-01-15--The oral history of Laura Dern—in her own words

It’s easy to think that Laura Dern is “having a moment.” Her widely acclaimed role as a cutthroat divorce lawyer in Noah Baumbach’s Netflix film Marriage Story just earned her a fifth Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. She wholly reinvented the nurturing matriarch Marmee in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women adaptation from Sony. Dern wrapped a gangbusters second season of HBO’s Big Little Lies. And she’s also slated to reprise her role as Ellie Sattler in the forthcoming Jurassic World 3.
But on closer examination of her 40-year career, Dern, who’s also now a prolific producer, has never not been having a moment. Since her first official onscreen role, in Adrian Lyne’s coming-of-age drama Foxes in 1980, Dern has neither ceased to work, nor make decisions that belie both the marketplace and those of her peers. From her unlikely early partnership with director David Lynch in 1986’s Blue Velvet to her masterful awards-contending work this season, Dern has shattered any and all precepts of what a female actor should and shouldn’t be.
Dern, 52, sat down with Fortune at a SAG-AFTRA Foundation event in Los Angeles in November to discuss her life and career milestones. What follows is an edited, condensed version of that conversation.
I was born just before my parents [actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd] filmed a western in California. So by 6 days old, I was on-location for the first time. We stayed in a motel room, and they used a drawer for my crib. I was definitely born into a working, acting family and subsequently raised by a mother and maternal grandmother who cared deeply about their community. It’s wild for those of us who grew up in Los Angeles in the 1970s with actor parents because there were maybe two movie magazines and two talk shows? Actors barely did press. They were just “workers.” Sure, there were glamorous moments, but I had a fairly simple upbringing. My parents’ focus was the craft, and they continued to study as members of The Actors Studio. They simply loved being actors. I was actually naturally a shy person, and it was my mother and grandmother’s deep empathy and activism that made me outgoing—not becoming an actor, per se.
Dern’s parents, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, have dinner at the Harwyn Club in New York in 1960, when they appeared in the play “Orpheus Descending.” They have five Oscar nominations between them. Bettmann/Getty Images
My favorite subjects in school were all things revolution. I also loved storytelling, history, and great writing. And, as a good Catholic girl, my first role onstage was playing the Blessed Mother in my first-grade Christmas play in Beverly Hills. [Laughs] I was very proud because I got to hold the Baby Jesus. He wasn’t terribly animated because he was my doll, but I pretended that he was! I was around 6. Then when I was 7, I was an extra in my mom’s film [Martin Scorsese’s] Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. That was when I became really interested in acting. I loved watching Scorsese work with his actors; how they invented and improvised take to take. It was a team. Also, the scene I was in, Ellen [Burstyn] and Kris Kristofferson finally kiss, and I totally fell in love with him. I decided then that I wanted to be an actress who got kissed by Kris Kristofferson. [Laughs]
Dern first appeared onscreen at age 6 with her mother, Diane Ladd (left, with Ellen Burstyn), in Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” The two would go on to work together again in “Wild at Heart,” “Rambling Rose,” and HBO’s “Enlightened.” Courtesy of Everett Collection
[Adrian Lyne’s 1980 film] Foxes was my first official role. I had to audition, and I am terrified by auditioning. I meet actors who say, “I love to audition, it’s such an opportunity!” I’m like, “Are you insane?” I screen-tested with [lead] Jodie Foster. It was for the part of her friend—she was 17 or 18. I was only 11, but lied and said I was 14 and that I could “look older.” I was my current height now back then. Not a popular thing during middle school, but it worked for acting! Jodie was fantastic. She was studying all the time and was basically fluent in French—she and her tutor taught me dirty words. Scott Baio was in the movie too, which was fantastic.
In director Peter Bogdanovich’s moving 1985 true story, “Mask,” Dern played a young blind woman who befriends a disfigured young man named Rocky Dennis, played by Eric Stoltz (right). Couttesy of Everett Collection
To be clear, I auditioned for everything in the ’80s—TV, commercials, Brat Pack movies. Mask was actually the first time I had to make a difficult career decision. I was offered the girlfriend role in a big Brat Pack movie. I won’t say which one, but it became a very successful movie and was a good salary. Then I was offered scale to do Mask and, because of my parents’ and Scorsese’s influence, I said, “I can’t not have this kind of opportunity.” To work so early in my career with [director] Peter Bogdanovich was extraordinary. In the rehearsal process we learned about [directors] John Ford and Luis Buñuel. [Lead] Eric [Stoltz], me, and the other young actors in the cast were invited by Peter to really understand filmmaking. It was so beautiful. [Mask’s real-life subject] Rocky Dennis’s mother was with us on set to help us understand what he went through. Also, I went to the Braille Institute to research my character, who was blind. The producers were persistent about making sure I did my homework.
“David had never seen me in anything,” says Dern with a laugh about being cast by auteur director David Lynch (left) for his violent thriller “Blue Velvet.” “He just thought I was right for it somehow.” De Laurentiis Group/courtesy Everett Collection
I auditioned for a different Brat Pack movie the same week I auditioned for Blue Velvet. David Lynch had never seen me in anything. [Laughs] He just thought I was right for it somehow. I’d seen Eraserhead, and my mind was blown. I was terrified by it. He was the bravest filmmaker I’d ever seen. Then I saw The Elephant Man, and it was the most empathic, gorgeous piece of work. So I meet David, I’m 17, and he’s this gentle, affable meditator telling me the story of Blue Velvet. I’m like, “This is the nicest man telling me the scariest story.” [Laughs] With David, your job is to make an otherwise boundary-less and perhaps insane world feel as authentic and true as possible. In all our collaborations, it’s never routine, there are never rules or judgment, but it’s always safe. I’ve improvised a bit over the years, but he’s incredibly specific. Blue Velvet was word for word what was in the script. Wild at Heart, the same. Inland Empire was mostly written, but we made it over the course of three years. I played four or five different characters in that one. I was nursing my son when we started. Then I went through my second pregnancy, my daughter’s birth, nursing her, and we finished the movie in Lodz, Poland. It was wild.
Dern earned her first Oscar nomination for her work in director Martha Coolidge’s 1991 film “Rambling Rose,” in which she portrays a Depression-era woman seeking refuge from a life of prostitution while working for a family in the American South. New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection
After Smooth Talk with Joyce Chopra, Rambling Rose was the second film I’d made with a female director. Martha Coolidge was a powerhouse. Both films dealt with female sexuality and coming of age. As a young woman, it was particularly wonderful to have a woman to talk to about certain scenes. Martha was very protective of me. At the time, I didn’t understand the absurdity of Hollywood’s lack of gender parity. I was blind to the fact that there were literally no women anywhere. It was all-male crews on every movie I’d done. Even my hair and makeup were done by men! The script supervisor was usually the only woman on set. I remember Martha had just had a baby. One day she had a blanket wrapped around her while she was nursing her son. A male producer said, “Let’s be clear, you can’t nurse your child in public again. Your crew will see it as a sign of weakness.” I remember at 20 thinking, “A sign of weakness to feed your child?”
“I saw it more as an experimental art house movie,” says Dern (center, with Richard Attenborough and Sam Neill) of Steven Spielberg’s CGI-technology-pioneering “Jurassic Park.” She will reprise her role as Dr. Ellie Sattler in “Jurassic World 3” in 2021. Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Steven Spielberg outright offered me the role in Jurassic Park, which was huge. But I saw it more as an experimental art house movie than a blockbuster because he was making the first-ever CGI movie. Nobody knew what that was or if it would even work! It felt equal to a David Lynch movie, radical in its own way—the puppetry by Stan Winston, these guys from a place called Industrial Light and Magic we’d never heard of. I was very appreciative of the attention the movie afforded me. My agents were thrilled. So naturally afterward I did [Alexander Payne’s] Citizen Ruth, a comedy about abortion, and then stood proudly next to Ellen DeGeneres as she came out on national television. [Laughs] Ellen created a revolution, God bless her. And more people need to see Citizen Ruth. That character taught me more than any other I’ve played. I worship what the movie says about America. It sends up both sides of the abortion issue brilliantly.
For her performance as Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris in Jay Roach’s HBO 2008 original film “Recount”—about the much-contested 2000 presidential election—Dern earned a Golden Globe. Gene Page—HBO Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
For my role as Florida’s Secretary of State Katherine Harris in HBO’s Recount, I was lucky that Danny Strong had written such a brilliant script. Also, former Harris aides were very open with me. And anytime I was horrified and disgusted by trying to have empathy or humanity for the egregious, bold-faced stealing of votes, [director] Jay Roach would say, “Okay, so how can you feel that?” Katherine had also been made fun of so much on Letterman and Saturday Night Live; there were so many impersonations, so I really had to be in the truth of it. What’s crazy is I consider that role one of my more settled performances compared to what I learned about her. [Laughs]
For Wild, I didn’t feel a need to distance myself from my friend [author] Cheryl Strayed in order to invent something new for the character. The story is about longing to be closer and understand the love story of her and her mother, who I played. I think it changed both [costar] Reese [Witherspoon’s] and my life forever knowing Cheryl, her heart and her brilliant writing. Cheryl’s mother loved life and Cheryl loved her mother beyond her complications. The movie taught me a great deal about loving my own mother, and being a parent and a listener. It changed my life deeply.
Dern reunited with her “Wild” costar Reese Witherspoon and director Jean-Marc Vallee in HBO’s star-studded drama series “Big Little Lies,” as seen here in the series’ second season in 2019. Jennifer Clasen/HBO
Big Little Lies was the next project I did with [Wild director] Jean-Marc Vallee. He’s a genius. The show was also the first time I truly felt safe in a cast. We’d get a piece of writing—an episode, a few scenes or a rewrite—and there’d be texts, emails, phone calls, and discussions in each other’s dressing rooms like, “I just read your scene, and I think it’s weird that Renata would say that.” I think if [writer] David E. Kelley wasn’t prepared for our feedback, he ultimately learned to be. [Laughs] But we were smart about how we did it. I think he felt lucky that we felt okay saying, “This doesn’t feel honest” or “A wounded woman wouldn’t feel that way.” All I know is that, if I called him and said, “Meryl Streep just texted me and said this scene doesn’t work,” we had to change it. When Meryl joined us for season two, it was easier to feel righteous!
In HBO’s 2018 movie “The Tale,” Dern portrays real-life documentarian Jennifer Fox who, as an adult, has an epiphany about the sexual abuse she endured as a teenager. Kyle Kaplan—HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection
A brilliant documentarian named Jennifer Fox was directing her first narrative feature, The Tale, about her own childhood sexual assault, and she wanted me to play her. It was radical in that it flashed forward and backward in time as she tried to remember what happened to her. Amazingly, the film came out the same month The New York Times broke the Harvey Weinstein story. Then the #MeToo movement reached fever pitch, and the narrative of the bully was changing. It used to be, “You’re experiencing this because you are less-than.” Now we know that that’s all a lie. We’ve weakened the bully, which is an amazing thing. Looking back, I was so lucky; devastating things could have happened to me as a young actor. I mean, I was 12 and sitting in the lobby of the Chateau Marmont waiting to read for a part. The casting director would send me up in the elevator up to the director, who was in a room with a bed, and we’d sit side by side and read a romantic scene together. Luckily, they were all respectful. But that’s insane! No one should ever be alone in a room like that. It gives each person the freedom to their own versions of what happened.
Dern (left, with Scarlett Johansson) in writer-director Noah Baumbach’s Oscar-contending Netflix film “Marriage Story,” in which she plays aggressive L.A. divorce lawyer Nora Fanshaw. Wilson Webb—Netflix
My roles in Marriage Story and Little Women are both supporting parts, but the movies don’t work without them. [Little Women’s] Marmee is the anchor of her family, and in a lot of ways, Nora is the anchor for Scarlett Johansson’s character in Marriage Story. What these films have in common is that they were made by two filmmakers I love and are now my friends. I worship them both as writers and directors. And they’re real-life partners! Greta says, which I love, “In Noah’s movie you play the kind of woman who tears families apart, and in my movie you’re the woman who keeps families together.” To have played these two outrageously diverse characters in the same year is an actor’s dream.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—World War I takes the pop culture spotlight after years of being the “neglected war”
—Disney is ready to roll out new Star Wars sagas as one story ends
—Indie movies and diverse performers mostly absent from 2020 Oscar noms
—Picard promises less tech, more humanity with “hope the dominant emotion,” according to Patrick Stewart
—When it comes to streaming media, Quibi made the most of CES
Follow Fortune on Flipboard to stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.


fortune--2020-01-15--Trump pressures Apple to unlock Florida attacker’s iPhones

Ford and GM take a hit in China as German carmakers thrive

U.S. President Donald Trump called for Apple to “step up to the plate” and suggested the company unlock iPhones used by the gunman behind the Dec. 6 terrorist attack on a Florida Navy base.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. government helps Apple on trade and other issues, so in return, the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant should unlock phones used by “criminal elements.”
Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook have cultivated a unique working relationship, and these ties likely contributed to Trump negotiating a trade deal with China that will potentially save Apple billions of dollars.
We are helping Apple all of the time on TRADE and so many other issues, and yet they refuse to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements. They will have to step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2020
Still, U.S. government officials, including Trump’s Attorney General William Barr, have complained that Apple isn’t doing enough to help unlock the iPhones of the Florida attacker.
Apple rejected the assertion that it hasn’t helped, saying that it provided “gigabytes” of data from to cloud backups of the devices.
Apple didn’t directly address the government’s request for it to unlock the devices, but is refusing to build special tools to give investigators access to locked iPhones.
However, the government doesn’t need Apple to break into and analyze the attacker’s handsets and can instead use third-party tools, Bloomberg News reported earlier Tuesday, citing security experts. One tool to simplify this process was updated on Tuesday.
Trump’s tweet is an escalation of a long-running public spat between Apple and the FBI over device security and data encryption.
In 2016, the FBI asked Apple to unlock an iPhone belonging to a shooter behind the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Apple refused, and CEO Cook said building a backdoor into the devices was the “software equivalent of cancer.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Greenpeace ranks China’s tech giants on renewable energy
—Sex tech steals the spotlight at CES
—Why there are so many scooters in Los Angeles
—What a $1,000 investment in 10 top stocks a decade ago would be worth today
—Best of CES 2020? Tech sites’ opinions differ wildly
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-01-14--Exclusive: Precision health firm Color just scored a $75 million funding round

This is the web version of Brainstorm Health Daily, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the top health care news. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
Color (the health tech and precision genomics firm), is ramping up its ambitions. And it’s getting a boost from a $75 million funding round led by T. Rowe Funds and Viking Global Investors, the company tells Fortune.
“This raise is driven by a big step up in our business (more than a seven-times contract growth) with improved profitability, so we are focusing on scaling what is now a sustainable business and continuing to develop our platform,” Color CEO Othman Laraki tells Fortune in an interview.
“This strategy is what played out in 2019—focusing on using genetics not just for selling tests for tests’ sake,” he continued.
Color has been trying to differentiate itself from other digital health firms, and particularly those with a focus on the genetic testing space, by pointing out how much value it places on genetic counselors. The company has won grants in a collaboration with the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) “All of Us” initiative, which seeks to provide de-identified genetic and health data, and software solutions, from one million people to the federal government. And linking people with counselors is a key part of the strategy.
Color declined to comment on the record about the valuation associated with the $75 million funding round. (It was also a bit coy about whether or not there are IPO plans in the near future, alas.)
The firm does has a relationship with Apple (some employees at the tech giant can receive free genetic tests).
Much of this coincides with with ongoing JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco this week. Stay tuned.
Read on for the day’s news.
Sy Mukherjee
sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com
@the_sy_guy
DIGITAL HEALTH
Livongo, Dexcom partner up on a major diabetes initiative. Consolidation is the name of the game in health care. And digital health is no exception. Case in point: Livongo (a diabetes-and-chronic-condition focused firm we've covered many a time) and Dexcom (a more long-standing med tech-focused firm we've covered many a time) are teaming up. The collaboration will link Dexcom's continuous glucose monitors for diabetes with Livongo's platform for patients. Basically, this is adding more ammunition to Livongo's underlying health data platform by giving it, well, more health data.
INDICATIONS
AbbVie gets a boost for its followup to the world's most lucrative drug. AbbVie is likely cheering results from a new study that bodes well for its historically best-selling drug. With generic competition for Humira, a $20 billion per year phenom, expected just around the corner in 2023, AbbVie wants to pump up its portfolio (and particularly in the inflammatory disease space that Humira has dominated for nearly two decades). Well, AbbVie's hopeful Humira successor Skyrizi whooped a competitor from Swiss drug giant Novartis, according to the company. (FiercePharma)
THE BIG PICTURE
The Affordable Care Act takes political center stage, again—but with a twist. The debate over U.S. health care policy continues to roll on in increasingly confusing ways. Here's a simplified version of what's happening: The Trump administration and House Republicans are suing to repeal the entirety of the law; Democratic attorneys-general are asking the Supreme Court to immediately take up this disputed case; and the administration has asked for the Supreme Court to not take up the case until after the 2020 election (although it is still pushing for repeal of the entire law). Here's a more detailed explainer on what's going on.
REQUIRED READING
WeWork Is Hitting the Brakes in New York and London, by Bloomberg
California Labor Law Pushes Uber to Change Fare Structure and App Features, by Lizette Chapman
7 Companies Founded in the Last 10 Years That You Now Can't Live Without, by McKenna Moore and Ross Kohan
Would You Share Your Salary With a Friend? Should You? by Kristen Bellstrom
Sign up for other Fortune newsletters.


fortune--2020-01-14--JPMorgan trading surge helps fuel most profitable year ever

What we can learn about modern financial scams from the man who tried to sell the Eiffel Tower—twice

JPMorgan Chase & Co. just posted the best year for any U.S. bank in history.
Fueled by a rebound in trading, especially in fixed income, the company said profit jumped 21% in the fourth quarter, pushing annual earnings to a record $36.4 billion. The announcement led off this week’s round of industry profit reports on a high note, though analysts are predicting results for 2020 will come back down to earth.
Fourth-quarter fixed-income trading revenue came in $1 billion higher than analysts predicted as the bank benefited from an active final few weeks of the year and gains in securitized products and rates. It marked a stark comeback from last year’s fourth quarter, when wild market swings kept clients on the sidelines and JPMorgan’s bond-trading unit posting its lowest revenue since the financial crisis.
“They are really hitting it out of the park,” said Alison Williams, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “The other key positive, which looks more sustainable, is that interest income looks like it’s stabilizing. That was a big worry last year.”
Shares of the company, which have surged 38% in the past 12 months, advanced 1.7% to $139.56 at 9:43 a.m. in New York.
Still, after the best year for bank stocks in more than two decades, investors are starting to question how much longer the era of record profits can go on. Analysts at UBS Group AG last week cut their outlook on shares of JPMorgan to neutral, citing a “high bar for further outperformance.”
Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Piepszak said the record results don’t necessarily mean the bank has reached a peak. Growth can continue thanks to initiatives including a national branch expansion, plans to boost market share in the fast-growing credit-card business, a push into China and the company’s strategy of hiring investment bankers in geographies and sectors where the bank is “under-penetrated.”
“We certainly don’t think this is as good as it can be,” Piepszak said on a conference call with journalists. “We continue to see opportunities across the franchise.”
JPMorgan, which plans to host an investor day next month, didn’t provide any annual targets for 2020. But the company said it expects net interest income to fall to around $14 billion in the first quarter. It also said expenses would rise to roughly $17 billion in the three months through March. That would be the highest in more than 6 years.
The biggest U.S. bank generated $4.95 billion in trading revenue in the quarter, a 56% increase that was better than analysts expected. That marked the best fourth quarter for the firm’s trading desks in more than a decade.
Last year, JPMorgan elevated bond veteran Troy Rohrbaugh to head of global markets, where he oversees all of fixed-income and equity trading. He’s been critical in decisions to invest in electronic and mobile trading improvements across asset classes.
“While we face a continued high level of complex geopolitical issues, global growth stabilized, albeit at a lower level, and resolution of some trade issues helped support client and market activity towards the end of the year,” Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a statement.
In December, Piepszak told investors to expect better performance for the last three months of 2019, thanks to gains in the fixed-income business. The bank’s overall profit in 2019 topped the previous industry record, set by the company in 2018.
It was the best year for the corporate and investment bank since at least 2011, when the bank started reporting under its current structure.
Other Highlights:
Fourth-quarter net income rose to $8.52 billion, or $2.57 a share, from $7.07 billion, or $1.98, a year earlier. That beat the $2.36 average estimate of 23 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The firm’s consumer-banking unit posted a 3% increase in revenue as investments to open up branches in new states started to yield returns.
Net charge-offs surged 21% to $1.49 billion from $1.24 billion a year earlier.
The bank generated $14.2 billion of net interest income, bringing the full-year metric to $57.2 billion, slightly below the bank’s guidance of $57.5 billion.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Forget policymakers. Greta Thunberg and her allies are targeting CEOs
—Investors see a 2020 recession coming—but think they’ll make money
—The Carlos Ghosn affair: A look inside the motivations of a fugitive CEO
—What $1,000 in 10 top stocks a decade ago would be worth today—Laws meant to close down tax havens and shut loopholes could have opposite effect
Subscribe to Fortune’s forthcoming Bull Sheet for no-nonsense finance news and analysis daily.


fortune--2020-01-14--Fortune gets a bold redesign, with user experience in mind

This is the web version of Business x Design, a newsletter on the power of design. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
This space is usually reserved for discussion on how businesses use design. But this time Fortune has some design news of its own.
This week we will launch a new website, mobile app, and video hub. We’ll also debut a bold redesign of Fortune’s print magazine, starting with the February issue.
The new website is the culmination of months of effort by Fortune’s digital team. We think you’ll find it quicker, cleaner, and easier to read and navigate.
The app, available for iOS and Android, will offer real-time feeds of Fortune articles, analysis, and videos—from print and digital alike—in a far more dynamic format than the magazine-only app that we’ve offered to date.
The video hub will bring you hundreds of hours of footage, including exclusive interviews with business leaders as well as access to thought-provoking sessions from our extensive conference portfolio (including, it must be said, Fortune Brainstorm Design).
As for the magazine, we’ll feature more stories in each issue and sport a completely new look, all published on premium paper stock.
In this newsletter, we often discuss user experience. Fortune’s aim with these changes is to deliver a dramatic improvement across the board. What won’t change: Our commitment to thorough reporting, sharp writing, thoughtful commentary, and exclusive access to the world’s leading executives, investors, and experts.
We hope you’ll like the new Fortune. But we also know good design combines smart prototyping with empathetic responses to user feedback. So send us yours. What do you like? What do you hate? What else can we do to make Fortune more valuable to you?
Before I go: In last week’s newsletter, I misstated the dates for our Brainstorm Design conference in Singapore. The correct dates are March 25 and 26. Check out the updated speaker list and register here.
More design news below.
Clay Chandler
@ClayChandler
Clay.Chandler@Fortune.com
VISION, EMPATHY, SCALE
This edition of Business x Design was curated by Margaret Rhodes.
Courtesy of Casper
"Sleep Economy." Casper, the mattress startup synonymous with the VC-fueled bed-in-a-box phenomenon, has filed paperwork to go public. The company leads its pitch by declaring itself a “pioneer of the Sleep Economy,” and teases new wares, from tracking devices to sleep supplements to “products that promote the ideal ambience for sleep.” It’s a grandiose claim for a company that sells mattresses and pillows. Of course, Casper didn’t invent this kind of rhetoric. WeWork tried very hard to sell itself as a tech company, rather than a coworking space; Away positions itself as a travel brand, not just a line of suitcases. The question now is whether investors will keep buying it. [New York]
Seeing in 3-D. A new development in machine learning enables neural networks to better detect three-dimensional shapes. Previously, this was a weak point in computer vision: Machine-learning models that could understand two-dimensional patterns would fumble over irregular geometries. Given that the physical world is made of irregular and asymmetrical geometries, this new algorithm—rooted in physics, and coming out of the University of Amsterdam and Qualcomm AI Research—signals promise for many real-world applications of AI, from autonomous vehicles to drones to geographic climate data simulations. [Quanta]
Best in show. This week, the design industry received notable recognition from the science and tech community: The Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education will go to David Kelley, founder of design consultancy IDEO and Stanford University’s d.school. Kelley coined the phrase “design thinking,” or the idea that design goes beyond the physical, and that it has the power to change both business and daily life. And then he showed the world how to practice it. As he told Fast Company, back in 2009: “I really do believe I was put on the planet to help people have creative confidence.” [National Academy of Engineering]
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
High-Tech Fitness Offerings Are the Newest Luxury Hotel Must-Have by Chadner Navarro
Forget Policymakers. Greta Thunberg and Her Allies are Targeting CEOs Now by Christiaan Hetzner
Every Company is a Digital Company by Alan Murray and Katherine Dunn
When it Comes to Streaming Media, Quibi Made the Most of CES by Chris Morris
‘They Must Scale Up:’ Greenpeace Ranks China’s Tech Giants on Renewable Energy by Naomi Xu Elegant
DISCUSSION
Netflix, once an unlikely contender at awards shows, just swept up 24 Oscar nominations—more than any other studio. That Netflix should have a strong presence during awards season is no surprise; the streaming platform has invested heavily in original movies, attracting high-profile directors like Martin Scorsese and Noah Baumbach.
Netflix also has a unique ability to promote those directors. Any studio can do this; marketing departments have always given select movies a push. But Netflix doesn’t just pay for billboards—its recommendation model means that its platform is both the ad campaign and the movie theater. And now that Netflix is gaining critical mass, that design influences not only what gets made, but who sees it. In a recent roundtable hosted by The Hollywood Reporter, Lulu Wang, the up-and-coming director behind The Farewell, describes the implications of the recommendation model from the point of a creator:
“One thing we sometimes don’t talk about with these bigger streaming platforms is that it’s a different business model. They’re building their brand, and when you are an established filmmaker, you are a brand that they want to partner with to help build their own brand. But with newer filmmakers, newer voices, you don’t have a brand.”
And then there’s the user experience. In an AIGA Eye on Design article aptly titled, “Netflix’s UX Design is Keeping Us Up at Night,” journalist Madeleine Morley unpacks the various design mechanisms Netflix uses to keep you locked into watching whatever it plays next. Besides playing host to a ton of content, the site skips opening credits, quickly gliding from one episode to the next, and from one show to another algorithmically recommended movie. As Morley puts it:
“ In this new era of television...technology has given way to an artful new way of storytelling, but also the inability to look away from it. Automatic play has stripped away the moment of cognitive pause that we all need to make a reasonable decision. Now, nothing breaks us from total immersion.”
If you consider both points—that Netflix is putting its weight behind certain shows, and then leveraging design and basic psychology to make it harder to stop watching said shows—it casts a different light on the current boom in content. We think we can watch whatever we want, but there's still a studio—and now an algorithm—playing into those choices.


fortune--2020-01-14--Facebook criticized for deleting posts supporting Iranian general killed by U.S.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he’s in favor of free speech. But after the Trump administration imposed new sanctions against Iran last Friday, his company has been removing posts on Instagram that support Iranian Major Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. missile strike on January 3.
Facebook’s policing of pro-Soleimani posts has led critics to question Facebook’s interpretation of U.S. sanctions law. The law bars U.S. companies from providing “material support” to organizations on the sanctions list, which can mean tasks such as providing communications equipment, moving money or providing lodging.
The guidelines outlined on the State Department website do not specifically mention banning speech.
In April, after the U.S. labeled the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, Instagram shuttered Soleimani’s personal account. Experts say that closing the account fulfilled Instagram’s legal obligations and that deleting posts that support him isn’t required.
“U.S. sanctions laws do not, in my judgment, require Facebook to take down posts supportive of Soleimani,” says Rodney Smolla, a free speech scholar and dean at Widener University’s Delaware Law School in Wilmington, Delaware. “If Facebook’s interpretation of the sanctions laws were correct, the laws would be in grave tension with First Amendment free speech principles.”
A Facebook spokesperson defended the company’s handling of the pro-Soleimani posts. “We review content against our policies and our obligations to U.S. sanctions laws, and specifically those related to the U.S. government’s designation of the IRGC and its leadership as a terrorist organization,” she says.
Internally, Facebook and Instagram define support “as content that encourages the actions of sanctioned parties and individuals and/or seeks to help further the actions of sanctioned parties and individuals.”
Last week, trade group International Federation of Journalists sent a letter to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri after several Iranian journalists said Instagram had silenced their reporting in the days after Soleimani was killed by removing posts with information about him. They called Instagram’s actions “unprecedented in the history of social networks” and “against global standard principles including freedom of speech and media,” according to a news release.
Facebook’s policy is in contrast with rival Twitter, which said that it welcomed free expression, as long as users don’t violate Twitter’s content rules. A Google representative declined to comment.
Other technology companies have vacillated in how they interpret their legal requirements. Over the weekend, GoFundMe removed and then reinstated two fundraisers for the Canadian victims of the Ukrainian plane that Iran shot down shortly after takeoff on January 7.
Also, Apple removed some apps tied to Iran in 2017. The following year, Slack deactivated some accounts with links to Iran.
Smolla says that social networks are free to remove posts that violate their internal rules. However, he argued that Facebook shouldn’t use sanctions as its justification.
“Facebook’s actions do not serve the American or international interests in encouraging dialogue and discourse,” Smolla says. “Our First Amendment is grounded in the faith that rational discussion, over the long haul, will tend to dissipate violence, not encourage it. Facebook’s actions are likely to cause more harm than good.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Greenpeace ranks China’s tech giants on renewable energy
—Sex tech steals the spotlight at CES
—Why there are so many scooters in Los Angeles
—What a $1,000 investment in 10 top stocks a decade ago would be worth today
—Best of CES 2020? Tech sites’ opinions differ wildly
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-01-14--Privatized water is hurting the poor and thirsty

This is the web version of raceAhead, Fortune’s daily newsletter on race, culture, and inclusive leadership. To get it delivered daily to your inbox, sign up here.
Before starting at Fortune, I studied and reported on, broadly speaking, international affairs.
While reporting from the UN, which I covered for a few years, one thing I’d hear often was the reiteration that water is a basic human right. It was only later I learned how hard advocates had to work to make sure that guaranteed access to clean water (and sanitation) became a global priority. In 2010, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution enshrining clean water and sanitation as fundamental rights. The Human Rights Council soon followed suit. Clean water is, in fact, sustainable development goal (SDG) number six, part of the very set of goals that corporations are increasingly using to benchmark their own sustainability work.
Considering water is necessary for survival, ensuring access to water should be a given, right?
Well, as with many other essential rights, there’s still a lot of work to do. In 2017, 785 million people could not access water within a 30-minute trip, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Around two billion people had no option but to draw from contaminated water sources.
And incredibly, in lots of emerging economies, the urban poor have unreliable service from public water sources—but live next to communities with fully functioning water and sanitation infrastructures. Just a few meters away, they’re still off the grid. And private water purveyors are almost always more expensive than public solutions. (It’s worth noting that SDG six also specifies the importance of affordable water.)
All indications suggest water insecurity is going to get worse. Thanks to climate change, population growth, and a number of other factors, clean water is on track to become even more scarce: By 2025, says the UN, half of the global population will live in water-stressed areas.
As the situation grows more dire, the New York Times has a story, in the starkest terms, on how “business” interventions are making things worse, and at scale.
Countries—largely in South Asia, the Middle East, South America, and sub-Saharan Africa—have turned to privately-owned water tankers in an effort to fill the gap, instead of investing in long-term and systemic solutions.
The Times describes it as “another phase” in the long-developing move towards water privatization. It’s a must-read.
In parts of Nepal, the reliance on such tankers has opened the door for some ugly dealings, a potential harbinger of things to come elsewhere. “Greedy, uncompromising and fearful of being knocked from their perch, some tanker operators even conspire among themselves to fortify the conditions that contributed to their emergence in the first place. Locals tell tales of frequent underhand deal making, pipeline sabotage, and egregious environmental destruction,” writes the Times’s Peter Schwartzstein.
In some cases, the water supply is of “poor quality,” and at prices around 10 times that of “government-supplied pipeline water.” It’s a telling tale of how “tanker shenanigans” are actually worsening the water shortage conditions, usually taking advantage of the most desperate and underserved.
Meanwhile, investments in water aren’t translating into a guaranteed right to water for many populations. Like other SDGs, goal six will require a doubling of efforts to be accomplished in time: In May 2019, a report of the UN Secretary-General noted that most countries were “unlikely to reach full implementation of integrated water resources management by 2030.”
And the failure to address the issue is costing businesses money, too. But, ahead of 2030, here, here, and here are resources for companies looking to be smarter about tackling the looming water crisis.
Tamara El-Waylly
tamara.elwaylly@fortune.com
Ellen McGirt curated and wrote the blurbs in this edition of raceAhead.
On Point
Some good Oscar news While there is still a lot to process from the Oscar announcements yesterday, we wanted to flag three important nominations to celebrate. One is St. Louis Superman, a documentary short from MTV Documentary Films that follows the life of Ferguson activist and battle rapper Bruce Franks Jr. Franks won a seat in Missouri’s House of Representatives and served two terms. The second is Hair Love, the utterly wonderful short animated film from former NFL’er-turned-filmmaker Matthew Cherry, which was kickstarted into a pick-up from Sony Pictures Animation. The five-minute film tells the story of an African-American father trying to do his daughter’s hair for the first time. Both are worth rooting for. Finally, Barack and Michelle Obama’s film production company scored an Oscar nod their first time out of the gate. What? More on that below.
CNN
If you want to stop predatory sexual behavior, start in middle school Elizabeth Miller, the director of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, has spent two decades studying the kinds of attitudes that allows gendered violence to be the norm. Her latest clinical trial, published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, offers a promising solution: Talk to boys, in very specific terms, about boundaries, respect, and consent, while explaining how damaging degrading actions and words can be. The program she evaluated is called Coaching Boys Into Men; middle grade students who went through the program were more likely to intervene when they observed problematic behavior as bystanders, and of those who were dating, 76% had lower odds of abusing their partner than their peers.
HuffPo and JAMA
W.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert takes a giant step for women The W.N.B.A. and its players’ union have announced a tentative new agreement, which would double player salaries and provide rich maternity benefits. While it’s a big win for the athletes, the ripple effects will be felt far outside women’s basketball. “What we have here is a multidimensional pay structure as well as benefit structure,” Engelbert told the New York Times. “We’ve really gone all out here. We’re making a big bet on this league, a big bet on women, and that in professional sports, that the W.N.B.A. can lead the way.”
New York Times
BlackRock centers climate crisis in their latest manifesto to executives Larry Fink, the CEO of the world’s largest fund manager, has made waves with this annual letter in the past. This year, he says, “In the near future—and sooner than most anticipate—there will be a significant reallocation of capital,” as the firm puts climate-driven sustainability issues at the center of their investment decisions. It’s a line in the sand that inspires as much skepticism as hope. “BlackRock remains waist-deep in fossil fuel investments and the world’s top backer of companies that destroy the Amazon rainforest and ignore the rights of indigenous people,” says environmental group Extinction Rebellion. BlackRock manages nearly $7 billion in assets, including big oil producers.
The Guardian
On Background
The Korean feminist you never knew you loved Alex Sujong Laughlin debuts in Zora with this bio of the artist Na Hye-sok, who challenged deeply sexist Korean society at a time of massive change—the 1919 Korean independence movement and first-wave feminism. Laughlin describes the brutal colonization of Korea by Japan during the period 1910 to 1945. “The Japanese sought to wipe out thousands of years of Korean culture by forbidding the use of the Korean language even in private homes and by forcing Koreans to assume Japanese names,” she explains. Assembly, free speech, art, and culture, were also extinguished. Na marched, organized, and was imprisoned. And then, like all great feminists do, she launched a radical magazine with a little help from some of her feminist friends. “They believed the work of liberating the Korean nation was inextricably linked with liberating women from the Confucian gender roles,” she writes.
Zora
Call to action: Help me build a guidebook for mental health in the workplace This is the plea from “sanity correspondent” Tanmoy Goswami, writing in The Correspondent. “I was a business journalist for over a decade before joining The Correspondent, so I tend to automatically snigger when I hear about companies that claim to put the welfare of their employees ahead of growth, profit, and valuation.” Okay, ouch. But go on. “[W]hat we really need is a deep, structural change in corporate culture that reimagines how and why business is done,” he says, a humane workplace that doesn’t drive people to illness and stress. What are your best ideas on how to build this?
The Correspondent
Quote
"I wonder how people starve to death
When God bless the land that lacks the harvest
The stone's equality, but they homes are poverty
And the whole world ignores the robbery"
—Nas, “Shine on”


fortune--2020-01-14--World War I takes the pop culture spotlight after years of being the ‘neglected war’

If you enjoy reading novels or watching movies set during World War II, you’ve had a steady bounty of prize-winning fiction and Hollywood blockbusters to choose from.
In just the past decade, there have been books about a blind girl who takes refuge in a seaside French village and prisoners of war forced to labor in the jungles of Burma, along with movies about the blood-soaked siege of Stalingrad, the heroic rescue of Allied troops stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, Allied troops recovering priceless stolen art, English mathematicians breaking Nazi codes, a king working through his stutter, and a prime minister guiding his nation through its darkest hour, among plenty of others.
But if World War I is your thing, pickings have been slimmer—until recently. The 100th anniversary of the conflict, which lasted from 1914 to 1918, has coincided with a handful of pop culture offerings about the Great War over the past few years. There’s Sam Mendes’s new Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated drama 1917, Peter Jackson’s 2018 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, Daniel Mason’s 2018 novel The Winter Soldier, and a just-released concept album by the English band Field Music, Making a New World. The war was also a storyline in season two of Downton Abbey in 2011, and a plot point in the 2017 Wonder Woman movie.
The centenary has brought attention to a war that occupies comparatively little space in the American popular consciousness, though its aftereffects continue to resonate. There were technological advances such as portable X-ray machines, and social changes that included women in the U.S. winning the right to vote. How European powers divvied up the Middle East after the war, establishing new countries and drawing borders without regard for political or religious history, helped foment the still precarious geopolitics of the region. Yet the Great War is largely an unfamiliar one.
British soldiers lined up in a narrow trench during World War I. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“It’s the neglected war,” says Susan Craig, an independent historian in New York who was part of a loose consortium of peers that tweeted and blogged daily updates about the war 100 years after the fact. For Americans, “It’s not as popular as the Civil War, certainly, and it’s not as popular as World War II.”
There are a few reasons why. The First World War was a distant conflict for most Americans: about 4 million U.S. troops served during the war, compared to 16 million in World War II. With a decisive victory over Nazi Germany and the Axis powers, World War II combatants came home as heroes—a status that has endured. “Everything is so fixated on that Greatest Generation narrative,” Craig says. “That narrative swamped everything else for a while.”
The rationale for the Great War was also less clear-cut than for World War II, which offered starker contrasts, and higher stakes. “The Second World War was about countries uniting to fight the tyranny of the Nazis; it seemed like the only option to save humanity,” Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who cowrote the screenplay for 1917, recently told Variety. “But with the First World War, the motivations are obscure. It was partly for profiteering, partly because empires were starting to lose their stakes abroad.”
Some of the best-known cultural depictions of the Great War came from people who experienced it: the 1929 novels All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, for example. Later, the satirical 1963 stage musical (and a subsequent film adaptation) Oh, What a Lovely War, and Rowan Atkinson’s 1980s British sitcom Blackadder Goes Forth, helped cement a popular image of World War I as a bungled conflict that ran soldiers through a meat-grinder with no strategic purpose.
“All that starts in the 1960s when there was a backlash from the left, really,” says Alan Wakefield, head of First World War and early 20th century at the Imperial War Museum in London. “People who had an anti-establishment line to toe looked back into First World War literature and picked up on the war poets, and put their own spin on this idea of lions led by donkeys, something that really fed into a narrative against the class system in the U.K.”
That was essentially the image Field Music’s David Brewis had in mind when the Imperial War Museum asked if the group would create a performance piece as part of a program exploring the aftermath of a war that he didn’t know well. “I studied it in high school in the way you see things at high school: you pay a bit of attention, you find it interesting, but you don’t think too deeply about it,” says Brewis, who visited a branch of the museum with his brother and bandmate, Peter Brewis.
From left to right: Field Music’s Peter Brewis, Andrew Lowther, David Brewis, Kevin Dosdale, and Liz Corney. After doing a commissioned project for the Imperial War Museum in London, the group has released the WWI-inspired “Making A New World.”
After that, Field Music took on the commission, and the project expanded into Making A New World as the band researched the topic and wrote songs. The album is a 19-track collection that traces post-war developments from the moment the guns fell silent on Nov. 11, 1918. There are songs about returning home, about the pioneering doctor whose work on skin grafts to treat disfigured soldiers later had applications for gender-reassignment surgery, and about how bandages intended for field dressings were rebranded as sanitary pads for women. One track, “Money Is a Memory,” notes that Germany only finished paying reparations for the war in 2010.
“We were surprised to the extent that the war shaped so much of the 20th century,” Brewis says, citing the first military use of tanks, aircraft, and chemical weapons, and the artistic and social upheavals that followed the war. “In some ways, things have changed a lot. But in some ways, we are still very much living in the world shaped by that conflict in that time.”
Some of those technological innovations figure in The Winter Soldier, Daniel Mason’s novel about a Viennese medical student who enlists and is assigned to a remote field hospital in the Carpathian mountains. Mason had intended to set the novel in 1920s Vienna until he began doing research for his protagonist’s backstory. “I realized as I wrote that there were few places that put medical training in such a dramatic context as World War I, particularly as the armies were so unprepared for the casualties that would come,” says Mason, a physician on the faculty at Stanford University, who spent 14 years working on the book amid other projects.
His unfamiliarity with World War I, especially beyond the popular image of trench warfare on the Western Front, was liberating as a storyteller. “It was as if I had stumbled across this world (particularly that in the East) that was new to me,” Mason writes in an email. “So my reading had a constant feeling of discovery, which was quite compelling—the medicine, the different cultures, the geographies, all were new.” Like Brewis, Mason was struck by parallels between World War I and the present, particularly in how the world changed in the 14 years he spent working on the novel. At the risk of oversimplifying, he says, “Now the lessons of the war seem even more pressing: it is an example of how diverse, multiethnic, culturally rich civilizations living in relative peace and prosperity can suddenly and precipitously fragment into nationalism and bloodshed.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Disney is ready to roll out new Star Wars sagas as one story ends
—With Joker laughing it up at the Oscar, Sony teases Jared Leto’s Morbius
—Indie movies and diverse performers mostly absent from 2020 Oscar noms
—Picard promises less tech, more humanity with “hope the dominant emotion,” according to Patrick Stewart
—When it comes to streaming media, Quibi made the most of CES
Follow Fortune on Flipboard to stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.


fortune--2020-01-14--Why Microsoft is leaning into E3—and Sony is bowing out—amid ‘marketing hype war’

When Sony announced it would not be attending E3 2019, it surprised a lot of people, but the general assumption was it would return in 2020 as the launch of the PlayStation 5 neared. That’s not going to the case.
Sony, for the second year in a row, will skip the annual video game trade show, saying it did not feel “the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year.” That could present an opportunity for Microsoft—and the company wasted no time to capitalize on it.
“Our team is hard at work on E3, we look forward to sharing with all who love to play what’s ahead for us,” said Xbox chief Phil Spencer on Twitter. “Our artform has consistently been propelled by the cross-section of creativity and technical progress. 2020 is a milestone year in that journey for Team Xbox.”
After dominating sales charts with the PlayStation 4, Sony is hoping for a repeat performance with the PlayStation 5, which is scheduled to launch later this year. The company has taken a rather unusual approach in showcasing the console’s features so far, though, spilling technical details to certain media outlets, but eschewing major showcases. (At CES, for example, it only showed off the “new” logo for the machine – which was the same as the PS4, only with a 5.) Many expect Sony to hold its own media event in the coming months, where it will fully unveil the device.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is courting gamers where they congregate. It announced details of its next generation system, then called Project Scarlett, at E3 last year. It unveiled the design of that console in December at the Game Awards, which shattered viewership record with over 45 million livestreams (a 73% jump from 2018). And it will presumably be the only major console company showing off a next generation system at E3, which has long been the nexus of the video game world.
That not only lets Microsoft show off its own next generation games to the most avid gamers (E3 began allowing the general public in several years ago), it gives other publishers a chance to showcase their games on Xbox Series X, which could affect buyers’ decisions in the holiday period.
“We’re in a marketing hype war right now,” says PJ McNealy, CEO and Founder of Digital World Research. “Right now, it’s all about positioning the Xbox Series X against the PlayStation 5. From the future of the company standpoint, the PS5 means a heck of a lot more to Sony’s future than the Xbox does to Microsoft’s future. But this will give Microsoft an opportunity to grab the spotlight.”
E3 has been the launch pad for virtually every major console launch in the industry over the past 25 years. And Sony’s showcasing of the PS4 in 2013 was widely credited with the system’s early success. The show, however, has faced challenges in recent years in meeting the desires of its member companies. Activision and Electronic Arts, among other companies, have not hosted booths at the show in recent years, either.
More must-read stories from Fortune :
—Greenpeace ranks China’s tech giants on renewable energy
—Sex tech steals the spotlight at CES
—Why there are so many scooters in Los Angeles
—What a $1,000 investment in 10 top stocks a decade ago would be worth today
—Best of CES 2020? Tech sites’ opinions differ wildly
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-01-14--House expected to vote Wednesday to send articles of impeachment to Senate

The House is preparing to vote Wednesday to send the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate to start the historic trial, several people told The Associated Press.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was meeting privately Tuesday at the Capitol with House Democrats about next steps, ending her blockade almost a month after they voted to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Pelosi suggested the House vote on Wednesday to transmit the charges and name the House managers for the case, according to one Democratic aide unauthorized to discuss the closed-door meeting.
The action will launch the rare Senate proceeding, only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history, a dramatic endeavor coming amid the backdrop of a politically divided nation and the start of an election year.
The trial would begin in a matter of days. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is meeting behind closed doors later Tuesday with GOP senators as they negotiate the terms of the trial.
Senate Republicans are signaling they would reject the idea of simply voting to dismiss the articles of impeachment against Trump as he has suggested. They are considering whether to allow a vote on such a motion to dismiss and another to subpoena testimony from new witnesses.
“I think our members, generally are not interested in the motion to dismiss. They think both sides need to be heard,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who is part of the GOP leadership, said Monday.
Trump was impeached by the Democratic-led House last month on charges of abuse of power over pushing Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and obstruction of Congress in the probe.
With the impeachment trial starting in a matter of days, senators are still debating the rules of the proceedings. GOP senators are conferring privately about whether to allow a motion to dismiss the charges against the president or to call additional witnesses for testimony.
Trump suggested over the weekend he might prefer simply dismissing the charges rather than giving legitimacy to charges from the House, which he considers a “hoax.”
It was an extraordinary suggestion, but one being proposed by Trump allies with support from some GOP senators, including McConnell.
But it is clear McConnell does not have the votes needed from his GOP majority to do that.
Key Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, said they, too, would oppose a motion to dismiss the charges.
Collins is leading an effort among some Republicans, including Romney and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, to ensure the ground rules include plans to eventually consider voting to call witnesses.
“My position is that there should be a vote on whether or not witnesses should be called,” Collins said.
Romney said he wants to hear from John Bolton, the former national security adviser at the White House, who others have said raised alarms about the alternative foreign policy toward Ukraine being run led by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
“I’ve said I’d like to hear from John Bolton,” Romney told reporters Monday. “I expect that barring some kind of surprise, I’ll be voting in favor of hearing from witnesses after those opening arguments.”
Democrats have been pushing Republicans, who have the majority in the Senate, to consider new testimony, arguing that fresh information has emerged during Pelosi’s monthlong delay in transmitting the charges.
McConnell drafting an organizing resolution that will outline the steps ahead. Approving it will be among the first votes senators take after they are sworn as jurors by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for the Court of Impeachment.
Republicans control the chamber, 53-47, and are all but certain to acquit Trump. McConnell is hesitant to call new witnesses who would prolong the trial. He prefers to model Trump’s trial partly on the process used for then-President Bill Clinton’s trial in 1999.
Senators says if witnesses are allowed, some Republicans may also try to subpoena Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a gas company in Ukraine while his father was vice president.
Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been pursing theories about the Bidens, but other Republicans are cool to embrace his work. The claims against the Bidens are unfounded.
It takes just 51 votes during the impeachment trial to approve rules or call witnesses. Just four GOP senators could form a majority with Democrats to insist on new testimony. It also would take only 51 senators to vote to dismiss the charges against Trump.
Most Republicans appear willing to go along with McConnell’s plan to start the trial first then consider witnesses later, rather than upfront, as Democrats want.
Collins is pushing to have at least the promise of witness votes included in the organizing resolution. She and the others appear to be gathering support.
“I’ve been working to make sure that we will have a process that we can take a vote on whether or not we need additional information, and yes, that would include witnesses,” Murkowski told reporters.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters the House vote might come Wednesday. “Could be,” he said.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Donald Trump and the power of incumbency
—Just six candidates qualify for the January Democratic debate
—The wealthiest members of Congress—and how they made their millions
—USPS could privatize as early as next year
—2020 Crystal Ball: Predictions for the economy, politics, technology, and more
Get up to speed on your morning commute with Fortune’s CEO Daily newsletter.


fortune--2020-01-14--Disney is ready to roll out new ‘Star Wars’ sagas as one story ends

When Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, little did it know it would need to reboot Star Wars less than a decade later.
Story lines involving beloved characters George Lucas first introduced in 1977 wrapped up in December’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, forcing Disney to figure out what to do with its sci-fi saga.
The company has built a robust business around Luke, Leia , and Han Solo that has sold a lot of lightsabers. But without the familiar Jedi clan and their friends, Disney must spend the next several years introducing new characters and story lines that will keep new and existing fans of Star Wars satisf i ed.
Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), Poe (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley), and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Jonathan Olley—Lucasfilm
It’s already given us a taste of what that might look like with bona fide hit The Mandalorian on the recently launched streaming service Disney+. Here’s what else is in the works:
Movies
After signs of Star Wars fatigue with Solo in 2018, Disney backed off plans to release a new Star Wars movie every year.
A new Star Wars film isn’t planned for release until December 2022, giving Disney some breathing room to build up anticipation. Details about the film are expected to be announced soon.
Two more cinematic Star Wars flagpoles have been planted for December 2024 and 2026.
Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca and director Rian Johnson, on the set of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” 2017. David James—Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Lucasfilm Ltd. /Courtesy Everett Collection
While details are scarce, Rian Johnson, who recently scored with Knives Out and helmed Star Wars: The Last Jedi, is still expected to return to direct another Star Wars film or two, while Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige is also developing his own Star Wars concept.
In fact, Lucasfilm is embracing Marvel’s cinematic universe for Star Wars with the next films not anticipated to be part of a traditional trilogy but rather a larger collection of stories with characters who weave in and out of movies over the next decade.
The move should help Disney expand its Star Wars fan base while loosening up the creative burden on filmmakers who’ve had to adhere to a strict plot that impacts the efforts of subsequent directors, as happened with Johnson and J.J. Abrams for the last two films in the Skywalker saga.
J.J. Abrams and Oscar Isaac on the set of “Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker,” 2019. Jonathan Olley—Lucasfilm
“We’ve got various things we’re looking at and various ways in which we can begin or not,” Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, who holds a tight grip over the future of the Star Wars franchise, told Rolling Stone in November. “The universe is never-ending. It’s liberating, it’s exciting, and it creates a lot of pressure and anxiety as well.”
Much of that stress is due to the fact that the films have pretty much powered Disney’s other divisions. How the studio proceeds will determine everything from TV-show and video-game spinoffs to new novels and toys that will appear on shelves.
Altogether, 12 Star Wars films, including the animated Clone Wars, have generated more than $10 billion at the global box office.
Television
A second season of The Mandalorian is coming this fall on Disney+ and will bring back Baby Yoda, or The Child, as he’s officially recognized.
Additional Star Wars–themed shows also in the works will flesh out characters seen in the films, like Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi, to be played again by Ewan McGregor, and pilot and Rebel Alliance officer Cassian Andor, portrayed by Diego Luna in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Deborah Chow, who received high praise for her episodes of Mandalorian, will shepherd the Obi-Wan show.
Disney sees Disney+ as a way “to bring Star Wars to people in new ways,” according to Disney chief Bob Iger on a recent episode of the YouTube series The Star Wars Show. “It’s not the same places or the same characters.”
If shows on the streaming platform succeed, expect Disney to explore ways to adapt them for the big screen.
Meanwhile, the animated series Clone Wars has already had quite an unusual history.
Launched as a feature-length film in 2008 and debuting shortly after as a series on the Cartoon Network, the show came to an abrupt, unsatisfying end when Disney purchased Lucasfilm after five seasons.
The Internet clamored for more, inspiring Netflix in 2014 to pick the show up for a sixth season. With another incomplete story line, fans still felt dissatisfied. Six years later, they are finally getting the closure they desire: This February, Disney+ will begin weekly streaming of the seventh (and final) season’s 12 episodes.
The show will feature returning characters Ahsoka Tano and Darth Maul in a conflict known as “the Siege of Mandalore.”
The series follows the end of two other animated series, Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: Resistance, which ended their runs in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
Theme Parks
One of the more immersive Star Wars experiences these days is Disney World’s Galaxy’s Edge, a themed land meant to weave in new and familiar story lines from the franchise.
Inside the canyons of the outpost, parkgoers can pilot the Millennium Falcon, make and wield their own custom lightsabers, and grab a glass of blue milk after getting harassed by Stormtroopers.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Disneyland Park in California and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida puts guests in control of the fastest ship in the galaxy. Matt Stroshane—Disney Parks
Main attraction Rise of the Resistance , open now at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, in Orlando, and coming to Anaheim’s Disneyland Jan. 17, is arguably one of the world’s most immersive ride experiences available to date .
At almost 20 minutes beginning to end, this trackless fleet transport ride is one of Disney’s longest theme park experiences and throws riders directly into the clutches of the evil First Order.
Most of the stars from the recent film trilogy make an appearance of some kind to help, or hinder, riders’ missions.
Not far from Disney’s Hollywood Studios park will be the company’s first Star Wars hotel .
Inside Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Disney guests take the controls aboard the fastest ship in the galaxy at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which opened in 2019 at Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc./Lucasfilm Ltd.
Opening in 2021, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will bring guests on board the spaceship Halcyon for a two – night stay where they will be able to experience multiple character-driven story lines that can unfold across the hotel.
Their choices here will affect their stay, and even their day-trip to the land of Batuu at Galaxy’s Edge can have varying consequences. Or, for the less adventurous, one could simply chew on some galactic-inspired treats and gaze out the window at the passing stars and planets. ( May the choice be with you. )
Also, in the parks, Star Tours continues its tradition of adding new quests and footage from the new films to keep it feeling fresh. Rise of Skywalker updates hit Disney parks across the globe to coincide with the film’s release.
Blue Milk and Green Milk can be found in the Black Spire Outpost market inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. David Roark—Disney Parks
For full immersion without full park prices, Downtown Disney and Disney Springs feature The Void’s “Star Wars VR: Secrets of the Empire” experience.
This four-person virtual reality experience combines state-of-the-art technology with elements like heat, wind, and water to truly trick you into feeling as if you’re a part of the action in helping take down the empire.
Video Games
Electronic Arts’ Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, released in late 2019, has been a major hit for the gamemaker. During an earnings call, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen projected the title will sell 6 to 8 million units by the end of the fiscal year this March. The Jedi-powered fantasy broke records for the publisher in its first several weeks of release, selling more digital downloads than any other Star Wars game to date. With such numbers and positive online reactions, additional DLC and sequels seem inevitable.
The game’s success has prompted a sigh of relief from EA, which has had an exclusive 10 -year license to produce Star Wars games for Lucasfilm since 2013. EA has pulled the plug on two major titles during this time.
So while details on the next new cinematic adventure may seem far, far away, the Star Wars universe will continue to live and expand across many multimedia forms for fans to enjoy.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—With Joker laughing it up at the Oscars, Sony teases Jared Leto’s Morbius
—Indie movies and diverse performers mostly absent from 2020 Oscar noms
—Picard promises less tech, more humanity with “hope the dominant emotion,” according to Patrick Stewart
—When it comes to streaming media, Quibi made the most of CES
—Hulu will exclusively stream new FX series—and other updates from peak TV land
Follow Fortune on Flipboard to stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.


fortune--2020-01-14--Russians hacked gas company key to Ukraine scandal, U.S. cybersecurity researchers say

A U.S. cybersecurity company says Russian military agents have successfully hacked the Ukrainian gas company at the center of the scandal that led to President Donald Trump’s impeachment.
Russian agents launched a phishing campaign in early November to steal the login credentials of employees of Burisma Holdings, the gas company, according to Area 1 Security, a Silicon Valley company that specializes in e-mail security.
Hunter Biden, son of former U.S. vice president and Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, previously served on Burisma’s board.
It was not clear what the hackers were looking for or may have obtained, said Area 1’s CEO, Oren Falkowitz, who called the findings “incontrovertible” and posted an eight-page report. But the timing of the operation suggests that the Russian agents could be searching for material that damaging to the Bidens.
The House of Representatives impeached Trump in December for abusing the power of his office by enlisting the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden, a political rival, ahead of the 2020 election. A second charge accused Trump of obstructing a congressional investigation into the matter.
“Our report doesn’t make any claims as to what the intent of the hackers were, what they might have been looking for, what they are going to do with their success. We just point out that this is a campaign that’s going on,” said Falkowitz, a former National Security Agency offensive hacker whose company’s clients include candidates for U.S. federal elected offices. In an earlier interview, he told The Associated Press that the campaigns of top candidates for the U.S. presidency and House and Senate races in 2020 have in the past few months each been targeted by about a thousand phishing emails.
Falkowitz did not name the candidates. Nor would he name any clients.
Russian hackers from the same military intelligence unit that Area 1 said was behind the operation targeting Burisma have been indicted for hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee and the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the 2016 presidential race.
Stolen emails were released online at the time by Russian agents and WikiLeaks in an effort to favor Trump, special counsel Robert Mueller determined in his investigation.
Area 1 discovered the phishing campaign by the Russian military intelligence unit, known as the GRU, on New Year’s Eve, said Falkowitz, who would not discuss whom he notified prior to going public. He said he followed the industry standard process of responsible disclosure, which would include notifying Burisma.
In the report, he said the GRU agents used fake, lookalike domains in the phishing campaign that were designed to mimic the sites of real Burisma subsidiaries.
Falkowitz said the operation targeting Burisma involved tactics, techniques and procedures that GRU agents had used repeatedly in other phishing operations, matching “several patterns that lots of independent researchers agree mimic this particular Russian actor.” Area 1 says it has been tracking the Russian agents for several years.
The discovery’s timing — just weeks before presidential primaries begin in the United States — highlights the need to protect political campaigns from targeted phishing attacks, which are behind 95 percent of all information breaches, said Falkowitz.
“This is a real specific, timely case that has real implications,” he said. “To discover it and potentially get out in front of it is a significant departure from what’s typical in the cyber security community, where someone just tells you, yeah, you’re dead.”
In phishing, an attacker uses a targeted email to lure a target to a fake site that resembles a familiar one. There, unwitting victims enter their usernames and passwords, which the hackers then harvest. Phished credentials allow attackers both to rifle through a victim’s stored email and masquerade as that person.
Area 1 said its researchers connected the phishing campaign targeting Burisma to an effort earlier last year that targeted Kvartal 95, a media organiza tion founded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
In this case, the Russian military agents, from a group security researchers call “Fancy Bear,” peppered Burisma employees with emails designed to look like internal messages.
In order to detect phishing attacks, Area 1 maintains a global network of sensors designed to sniff out and block them before they reach their targets.
In July, the U.S. Federal Elections Commission gave Area 1 permission to offer its services to candidates for federal elected office and political committees at the same low rates it charges non-profits.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Donald Trump and the power of incumbency
—Just six candidates qualify for the January Democratic debate
—The wealthiest members of Congress—and how they made their millions
—USPS could privatize as early as next year
—2020 Crystal Ball: Predictions for the economy, politics, technology, and more
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fortune--2020-01-14--Visa’s $5.3 billion acquisition of Plaid will send shockwaves through the industry

This article originally ran in Term Sheet, Fortune’s newsletter about deals and dealmakers. Sign up here.
We live in a time of epic deals. I audibly gasped yesterday when I found out that Visa agreed to buy Plaid, a fintech company that connects users’ bank accounts to apps and services, for an eye-popping $5.3 billion. That’s two times more than Plaid’s most recent private valuation — a huge win for its venture investors.
In late 2018, Plaid raised $250 million in Series C funding at a $2.65 billion valuation. The round was a who’s who of Silicon Valley: Mary Meeker led the financing (from Kleiner Perkins’s growth fund), and was joined by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Goldman Sachs, NEA, and Spark Capital.
It was later revealed that competitors Visa and Mastercard both bet on Plaid through “strategic investments” in the same round. Visa said it was determined to “stay relevant” as its industry evolves. “Companies like Plaid wake up every day thinking about these [factors],” Bill Sheedy, executive vice president of Visa’s strategy group, told Fortune at the time. “It’s very different from how we’ve thought about product innovation in the past.”
My colleague Rey Mashayekhi reports that the deal is about expanding Visa’s services beyond its debit and credit card solutions and into a broader consumer experience.
“We are increasingly trying to move from being strictly focused on payments, to being focused on the movement of funds for any purpose around the world,” said Visa CEO Al Kelly in a conference call on Monday. “As big as Visa is in terms of the bank accounts that we can reach, we’re not as big as we need to be if we want to be a formidable player in money movement around the world.”
While much of tech press is focused on covering flashy companies like WeWork and Away, there are huge things happening on the non-consumer front that are arguably as exciting (and important). This is a massive power play by Visa that goes beyond the sticker price — it shows that Visa might also believe that cardless payment forms could one day fully replace their plastic cards.
I would pay good money to see what’s going on at Mastercard’s offices today. This acquisition will send shockwaves throughout the entire financial services industry.
Polina Marinova
Twitter: @polina_marinova
Email: polina.marinova@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Concerto HealthAI, a Boston-based real-world-data and enterprise AI technology solutions for precision oncology, raised $150 million in Series B funding. Declaration Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Maverick Ventures, AllianceBernstein PCI, and SymphonyAI Group.
- Trusona, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based developer of passwordless multi-factor authentication technology, raised $20 million in funding. Georgian Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Kleiner Perkins, M12, OurCrowd and Seven Peaks Ventures.
- SimpliField, a Paris-based retail performance platform provider, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Five Elms Capital led the round.
- Locale, an Austin-based upscale aparthotel brand, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Amplo Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Susa Ventures, Malkin Holdings, Rogue Insight Capital and Metropolis Capital Partners.
- Nicoya, a Canada-based provider of advanced analytical instruments for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Whitecap Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Garage Capital, MaRS IAF, Laurier Startup Fund, and University of Waterloo Student Venture Fund.
- Containous, a France-based cloud-native networking company, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Balderton Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Elaia and 360 Capital Partners.
- Curricula, an Atlanta-based provider of a security awareness training and phishing simulation platform, raised $3 million in funding, from RCP Equity.
HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES DEALS
- Inflammatix, a Burlingame, Calif.-based molecular diagnostics company, raised $32 million in Series C funding. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Northpond Ventures, Think.Health Ventures, and Grey Sky Venture Partners.
- Kyverna Therapeutics, a San Francisco-based cell therapy company, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Investors include Vida Ventures, Westlake Village BioPartners, and Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD).
- Codagenix, Inc., a Stony Brook, N.Y.-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing prophylactic vaccines and oncolytic virus therapies, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Adjuvant Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Euclidean Capital and Topspin Partners.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
- Midland Industries, a portfolio company of Wynnchurch Capital, acquired Stainless Adapters Inc, a Houston, Texas-based supplier of stainless steel hydraulic adapters and pipe fittings. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- MacNeill Pride Group, a portfolio company of Centre Partners, acquired Outdoor Recreation Company of America, a Nashville, Tenn-based supplier of coolers, drinkware and other outdoor accessories. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHER DEALS
- ICF (NASDAQ:ICFI) agreed to acquire Incentive Technology Group, LLC, an Arlington, Va.-based provider of cloud-based platform services to the U.S. federal government, for $255 million.
FIRMS + FUNDS
- Siguler Guff, a New York-based private equity firm, raised $1.575 billion for its Small Buyout Opportunities Fund IV.
- Drive Capital, a Columbus, Ohio-based venture capital firm, raised $300 million for its fund, Overdrive Fund I.
PEOPLE
- Preeti Rathi joined Icon Ventures as a general partner. Previously, she was at Ignition Partners.
- Tyler Lancaster was promoted to principal at Energize Ventures.
- TSG Consumer Partners promoted Alec Barnett, Sam Pritzker and James Zelnick to vice president.
- Palladium Equity Partners promoted Chris Allen, Leon Brujis, Caleb Clark, Justin Green, Daniel Ilundain and Adam Shebitz to partner.
- Tony “T2” Thomas will join Lux Capital as a venture partner.
- Sorenson Ventures named Vidya Raman as its newest principal today.
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fortune--2020-01-14--Netflix crashes Hollywood’s Oscar party

Netflix crashes Hollywood’s Oscar party

This is the web version of Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the top tech news. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
Good morning. Fortune tech writer Danielle Abril filling in for Adam today. In about a month, Hollywood will come together for arguably the biggest night in the movie business: the 92nd annual Oscars.
And to the surprise, and in some cases frustration, of many, Netflix will arrive at the awards packing the most nominations of any movie studio. The online streaming service raked in 24 nominations this year, including two for best picture, eclipsing big blockbuster producers like Disney and Sony.
This is the first time a streaming service is the studio to beat at the Academy Awards.
Netflix is up nine nominations from last year—proving that streaming services aren’t pulling any punches when it comes to the content they’re producing. They’re taking on the big dogs via a slew of original films boasting star-studded casts including Robert DeNiro, Adam Driver, and Scarlett Johansson (and that’s just on Netflix!).
Not everyone is excited about the new nods from Hollywood’s elite. You might remember last year, following the Best-Picture nomination of Netflix’s Roma, Steven Spielberg argued that movies created by streaming services shouldn’t be eligible for an Oscar. His reasoning: Those films are made for the television screen, not big productions designed to be consumed by mass audiences in large theaters.
Still, while Netflix has managed to capture critics’ attention, it has yet to prove it can sweep.
Last year, Netflix won four of its 15 nominations, with Roma earning three. But it lost the coveted Best Picture award to Universal Picture’s Green Book. While Netflix likely will scoop up some serious hardware this year for The Irishman and Marriage Story, at the Golden Globes, those films took a backseat to Universal Picture’s World War I film 1917 for Best Motion Picture. Netflix only won two of the 34 awards for which it was nominated.
But the 2020 Academy Awards have already proven to be a historic moment for a rapidly changing entertainment landscape. Streaming services are now pushing out polished content that is capturing acclaim from critics and the public. They may need just a little more time to woo the Academy.
Danielle Abril
Twitter: @DanielleDigest
Email: danielle.abril@fortune.com
* * *
A note from Adam about yesterday’s email:
I know full well that Goldman Sachs, not J.P. Morgan, is Apple’s partner in its newly issued credit card that uses Mastercard’s network. I know this in part because I interviewed Harit Talwar, the head of Goldman’s Marcus consumer bank, at the Fortune Brainstorm Finance event in Montauk, N.Y., last summer. I can’t explain why my brain told my fingers to type “J.P. Morgan,” other than perhaps because my own company uses a J.P. Morgan-issued Mastercard. I apologize for misinforming you.
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman.
NEWSWORTHY
Ka-ching. Monday was a big payday for one of the leading financial tech startups. Credit card giant Visa said it would pay $5.3 billion for Plaid, which helps connects thousands of consumer apps to consumers' bank accounts. That's just about double Plaid's most recent private valuation from a 2018 fundraising round.
Refreshing the desktop. After seven straight years of shrinkage, sales of personal computers grew in 2019. Research firm Gartner, which includes 2-in-1 tablets like the Microsoft Surface in its tally, said shipments increased to 261 million units, almost up 1% from 2018. Rival market tracker IDC, which includes Google Chromebooks but not tablets in its count, said sales increased 3% to 267 million. One factor was Microsoft's looming deadline ending support for Windows 7 this month.
Out of order. Startup law firm Atrium is cutting most of its in-house legal staff as it attempts to pivot beyond the legal services market, Axios reports. CEO Justin Kan, a Twitch co-founder, plans to focus on software instead.
Looking for a backdoor. In a deja vu episode of the long-running encryption wars, Attorney General William Barr blasted Apple on Monday for not helping crack the security on two iPhones that belonged to the shooter in last month's Pensacola naval base attack. Apple said it had given law enforcers "all of the data in our possession."
Fooled me once. Speaking of deja vu, Russian government hackers have attacked Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company at the center of one of President Trump's conspiracy theories about the Biden family. The hacking attempts began in November, as Trump's impeachment defense focused on former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter being on the board of Burisma.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
For 25 years while writing a column about the luxury industry for the Financial Times, Lucia van der Post has witnessed revolutionary changes in the market due to technological and social advances. With cashmere sweaters available in cheap department stores and smoked salmon in every supermarket, the definition of luxury service has changed, she explains in an essay marking the quarter-century anniversary of her column.
The new generation of luxury consumers are tech savvy and time impatient. They want the internet to meet their material needs, yet still expect exceptional service. Today, if you log onto Net-a-Porter or any of the bigger online suppliers you can chat in live time, discuss sizes and get styling advice on demand. Deliveries to many urban centres are now met within minutes. The arrival of TOSHI (only in inner London so far) has added yet another layer to the online experience. With your new dress, handbag or pair of designer shoes arrives a real person to check that they fit and to offer accessories that might further appeal.
ON THE MOVE
Intel hired Archana "Archie" Deskus as its new chief information officer and senior vice president, reporting to CFO George Davis. Deskus comes from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, where she was CIO since 2017...Alphabet's life sciences unit Verily hired former Tesla CFO and Ford Motor exec Deepak Ahuja as its new CFO... Amazon Web Services is losing its vice president of worldwide marketing, Ariel Kelman, to rival Oracle. Kelman will be chief marketing officer, replacing Rupal Shah Hollenbeck. At AWS, Rachel Thornton replaces Kelman...Separately, Avaya chief technology officer Chris McGugan is also joining Oracle, as senior vice president and general manager of service clouds... Alphabet's chief legal officer, David Drummond, will depart at the end of the month after accusations that he violated company policy in a relationship he had with another employee.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
An Explosion of Knowledge: Multiplexed Interventional Genomics By John Stuelpnagel and Bryan Roberts
Forget Policymakers. Greta Thunberg and Her Allies are Targeting CEOs Now By Christiaan Hetzner
What Was Carlos Ghosn Thinking in Pulling off His Great Escape? A Former Colleague Offers Clues By Eric C. Evarts
How Freelancing Can Help Your Career By Sarah Fielding
These $50 ‘Strawberries’ Are Popping Up on Michelin-Starred Menus By Anna Ben Yehuda Rahmanan
BEFORE YOU GO
In a deja vu episode of our streaming entertainment reality, CBS is just weeks away from debuting its newest Star Trek series. Patrick Stewart returns to the role of Jean-Luc Picard in the series, called Picard. Fortune's Stacey Wilson Hunt got some of the inside story of how the show came together. "Picard and I became melded," Stewart says. "He never left me, so there was actually nothing strange about stepping into this role again. It's been far easier than I expected."
Aaron Pressman
On Twitter: @ampressman
Email: aaron.pressman@fortune.com