CATEGORIES

IN ‘THE FATHER,' THE DISORIENTATION OF DEMENTIA

In Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Anthony, 80, in the grip of dementia, is a captain ready to go down with the ship. Overhearing his daughter and son-in-law contemplating a nursing home, he curses them as “rats” abandoning him. Pacing his London apartment in a bathrobe, he mounts a noble resistance.

STEPHEN KING AND J.J. ABRAMS WORK ON LISEY'S STORY FOR APPLE TV+

When you combine the creative genius of probably the best horror writer of the modern area and one of the best and most respected producers of our era, you are probably going to get a product that is going to be a masterpiece in its own right.

MICROSOFT: CHINA-BASED HACKERS FOUND BUG TO TARGET US FIRMS

China-based government hackers have exploited a bug in Microsoft’s email server software to target U.S. organizations, the company said this week.

BILLIE EILISH, UNFILTERED, IN NEW DOCUMENTARY

If you’re coming to “ Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry ” hoping for a primer on the music sensation, you’ve come to the wrong place. Filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s two hour and 20-minute documentary about the “Ocean Eyes” singer and songwriter is not biography or reportage. It’s a verite-style plunge into her life, her home, her concerts, her process, her Tourette’s, her brother’s bedroom where they famously write all their songs and even her diary in the year in which she became a star.

AMAZON OPENS FIRST UK CHECKOUT-FREE GROCERY STORE IN LONDON

Amazon has opened a cashier-free supermarket in London, its first bricks and mortar expansion outside the U.S. as the company bets on strong demand for its contactless shops.

USPS SELECTS OSHKOSH DEFENSE TO BUILD GREENER MAIL TRUCK

The United States Post Office said that it has chosen Oshkosh Defense to build its next-generation mail-delivery vehicle, part of an effort to make the USPS more environmentally friendly by switching a portion of its huge fleet to electric vehicles.

NEW OR USED? EITHER WAY, PRICE HIKES SQUEEZE US AUTO BUYERS

The viral pandemic has triggered a cascade of price hikes throughout America’s auto industry — a surge that has made both new and used vehicles unaffordable for many.

MARS ROVER'S GIANT PARACHUTE CARRIED SECRET MESSAGE

The huge parachute used by NASA’s Perseverance rover to land on Mars contained a secret message, thanks to a puzzle lover on the spacecraft team.

IN YEAR OF PANDEMIC, HOME DEPOT BECAME SUPPLIER TO MILLIONS

The housing market was among the very few bright spots for the U.S. economy in the year of the lockdown and Home Depot became its supplier, racking up an unprecedented $132 billion in sales for 2020.

GOODELL: NFL LEARNINGS FROM 2020 TECHNOLOGY HERE TO STAY

One of the major benefits of playing a full season pretty much on schedule during a pandemic is what the NFL learned technologically from 2020.

FUNKY ELECTRONICS CHAIN FRY'S IS NO MORE

Fry’s Electronics, the go-to chain for tech tinkerers looking for an obscure part, is closing for good.

FOXCONN LOOKING AT BUILDING ELECTRIC CARS IN WISCONSIN

Foxconn Technology Group said it has signed a deal with a California startup to build electric cars, conceivably at Foxconn’s facility in Wisconsin.

FACEBOOK SAYS IT WILL PAY $1B OVER 3 YEARS TO NEWS INDUSTRY

Facebook, following in Google’s footsteps, says it plans to invest $1 billion to “support the news industry” over the next three years.

LUXURY CAR BRAND JAGUAR TO GO ALL-ELECTRIC BY 2025

Struggling luxury car brand Jaguar will be fully electric by 2025, the British company said this week as it outlined a plan to phase out internal combustion engines.

AUTOWORKERS FACE UNCERTAIN FUTURE IN AN ERA OF ELECTRIC CARS

When General Motors boldly announced its goal last month to make only battery-powered vehicles by 2035, it didn’t just mark a break with more than a century of making internal combustion engines. It also clouded the future for 50,000 GM workers whose skills — and jobs — could become obsolete far sooner than they knew.

COST OF A SINGLE BITCOIN EXCEEDS $50,000 FOR FIRST TIME

The seemingly unstoppable rise of Bitcoin continued with the cost of a single unit of the digital currency rising above $50,000 for the first time.

IN SURPRISE MOVE, FACEBOOK BLOCKS NEWS ACCESS IN AUSTRALIA

In a surprise retaliatory move Thursday, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news stories, escalating a fight with the government over whether powerful tech companies should have to pay news organizations for content.

TURN YOUR QUARANTINE CLUTTER INTO MONEY

I placed more online orders than I can count in 2020. And I justified all of them.

APPLE TV+ TO PRODUCE RIDLEY SCOTT'S NAPOLEON EPIC STARRING JOAQUIN PHOENIX

Ever since Stanley Kubrick’s unrealized dream biopic, Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous French conqueror and rules, has been a very elusive character for directors. The life of Napoleon Bonaparte is an amazing story of revolutionary ideals crushed by the seductiveness of power and his ultimate demise is a story that is one of the best known in history. Kubrick would have been able to make an epic but he never got to it during his lifetime and now, legendary director Sir Ridley Scott has signed a deal with Apple to direct and produce Kitbag, a biopic based on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte.

MAJOR AUSTRALIAN MEDIA COMPANY STRIKES GOOGLE NEWS PAY DEAL

Seven West Media has become the largest Australian news media business to strike a deal with Google to pay for journalism in a partnership announced this week before the nation’s Parliament considers draft laws to force digital giants to pay for news.

US STILL UNRAVELING ‘SOPHISTICATED' HACK OF 9 GOV'T AGENCIES

U.S. authorities are still working to unravel the full scope of the likely Russian hack that gave the “sophisticated” actor behind the breach complete access to files and email from at least nine government agencies and about 100 private companies, the top White House cybersecurity official said Wednesday.

US CHARGES NORTH KOREAN COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS IN GLOBAL HACKS

The Justice Department has charged three North Korean computer programmers in a broad range of global hacks, including a destructive attack targeting an American movie studio, and in the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

WALMART SALES STILL SURGING, BUT A CHILL MAY BE ON THE WAY

Walmart is raising wages for 425,000 of its 1.5 million U.S. workers and is investing $14 billion this year to speed up its distribution network as the nation’s largest retailer navigates vast industry changes that were accelerated by the pandemic.

BIDEN BACKS OFF ON TIKTOK BAN IN REVIEW OF TRUMP CHINA MOVES

The Biden administration is backing off former President Donald Trump’s attempts to ban the popular video app TikTok, asking a court to postpone a legal dispute over the proposed ban as the government begins a broader review of the national security threats posed by Chinese technology companies.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS CYBER RISKS TO US ELECTION SYSTEMS

Election systems in the U.S. are vulnerable to cyber intrusions similar to the one that hit federal agencies and numerous businesses last year and remain a potential target for foreign hacking, according to a report released Wednesday.

MIAMI MAYOR DIGS ELON MUSK'S TUNNEL PITCH TO EASE TRAFFIC

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez spoke with Elon Musk about the tech billionaire’s interest in digging road tunnels in Miami to alleviate traffic congestion in Florida’s largest metro area.

ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING DRIVES UP SALES AT OCADO

Ocado, one of the biggest internet-only grocery retailers, said this week that sales rose 35% during the last fiscal year as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift toward internet shopping.

ARAB SPACECRAFT ENTERS ORBIT AROUND MARS IN HISTORIC FLIGHT

A spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates swung into orbit around Mars on Tuesday in a triumph for the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.

STATE POLICE DROPS PHONE APP THAT MAKES TEXTS DISAPPEAR

The Michigan State Police told officers to remove a phone app that keeps no record of outgoing text messages, a newspaper reported this week.

TAXING TIME: HOW THE PANDEMIC WILL AFFECT FILING YOUR TAXES

The pandemic has made everything a bit trickier — tax filing season is no exception.