A Word on Last Week’s Failures


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In May 1968, during its first run in theaters, the classic science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey captured my six-year-old imagination. A few months later, in the real world of spaceflight, Apollo 8 orbited the moon. I watched in wonder on Christmas Eve as an overexposed Earth glared from the black & white TV screen in our kitchen. So began a love of spaceflight that has now spanned 46 years.


I didn’t know as I listened to the astronauts taking turns reading from Genesis that not everyone was as enthralled by spaceflight as I had become, nor that we had already begun to retreat from the moon before we landed there for the first time. Four years after Apollo 8, Apollo 17 returned to Earth, and the era of piloted space exploration drew to a close.


The Space Shuttle always made me a bit suspicious. I suppose that was because it looked too much like an airplane to be a proper spaceship. I cheered, of course, when it detached from its 747 carrier aircraft for the first time in August 1977. I knew that it would soar into space in a year or two, but the fact that it fell to Earth instead of soaring into space right then left me cold. Still, Nova programs on PBS and many articles in magazines promised me that the amazing Space Shuttle would be so capable that to keep its payload bay filled NASA would have to build giant solar power satellites and space colonies.


Like many space fans, I was thoroughly primed when at last the Space Shuttle Columbia flew in April 1981. Sure, that first flight was three or four years late. Sure, there were technical problems even as Columbia soared aloft. NASA would beat those, though, and soon amazing things would happen. We might even launch humans to Mars in the 1990s.


The delays and problems continued. Die-hard space fans defended the Space Shuttle, pointing out that space was hard and that the Shuttle’s new way of doing business was bound to prevail. President Ronald Reagan even went so far (in January 1984) as to call on NASA to build a Space Station by 1994. As 1986 dawned, we looked forward to a teacher and a journalist in space. We would see launched from the Shuttle’s payload bay the Galileo Jupiter Orbiter and Probe on a mighty Centaur-G’ upper stage, unprecedented views of the cosmos from the Hubble Space Telescope, and numerous satellite servicing missions and money-making commercial payloads and satellites.


Of course, none of that happened quite as planned. On 28 January 1986, soon after I started graduate school, I arrived home from my office hours to learn that the Space Shuttle Challenger had been destroyed a little more than a minute after launch.


The Challenger accident was attributed to “NASA ‘can-do’ culture,” but the fact was that the fundamentals underpinning the Space Shuttle were flawed from the start. It could never fly routinely. It could not operate more cheaply than expendable rockets. It could not launch the Space Station as then designed.


The decisions that dictated the Shuttle’s capabilities could be traced back to 27 January 1967, when the Apollo 1 fire undermined confidence in NASA. That led Congress to make big cuts in funding meant to give the space agency a future.


The Nixon Administration and Congresses during the 1970s filled the gap those cuts created with the Space Shuttle, which had been proposed originally as a Space Station crew rotation and resupply vehicle. They refused, however, to pay for the Space Station that gave the Shuttle its purpose. The Shuttle instead got a new purpose: to do “practical” things in space that would “benefit” Americans and do them for less than the cost of expendable rocket launches.


The Space Shuttle should have taught us a lesson: if one seeks to travel into space, one must avoid cutting corners. Space is indeed hard: one must spend the money necessary to develop the means to reliably travel to and from space and to operate there. Furthermore, because space is hard, spending enough money to avoid the foreseeable problems will not fend off all disasters. The cost of losses will have to be added to the operating cost of spaceflight systems.


At the moment we are engaged in what feels like a repeat of the Shuttle experience. Commercial crew and cargo are seen as revolutionary. They have captured imaginations. New companies will open up the space frontier as never before by bringing to bear the forces of entrepreneurship – or so it is said. Tourist hotels in space and Mars colonies are right around the corner. We will spend less to develop and take advantage of these revolutionary capabilities than we spend to fly proven expendable rockets and spacecraft; even proven expendable rockets and spacecraft that long ago amortized their development cost.


It is, apparently, a beguiling vision for many. I believe that it is naive at best. The failures we witnessed last week are not one-off events; we have witnessed others and will see many more. I can state this with confidence because commercial crew and cargo and Branson’s space tourism scheme are relying on new spaceflight systems, which always experience problems.


If we acknowledge that failures happen even when entrepreneurs are involved – as we now must – then we must tailor our programs to accommodate those failures. It is not enough to declare that we will not be stopped. It is important to investigate whether we should stop; that is, whether the accidents have revealed anything that undermines our basic assumptions.


I believe that it is time to end the commercial crew and cargo competition. That is not to say that we should end commercial crew and cargo flights. We must, however, adopt a realistic attitude toward them. Inexperienced companies flying barely proven systems are not superior to established companies and space systems. If established systems cost more, then we should be prepared to admit that there could be a really good reason; that those systems have worked through their teething troubles, which is bound to cost money.


We should seek to use the best available systems, and never put low cost ahead of safety or our program objectives. In fact, I would argue that cost should be a minor factor in the development of crew systems. Space is too important for it to be otherwise. We should not make the shortsightedness that manifested itself after the Apollo 1 fire a continuing element of U.S. space policy.


Were I to be appointed King of Space, I would award Boeing the ISS crew contract and SpaceX the ISS cargo contract right now. I would divert the funds presently being spent on multiple crew and cargo alternatives to those two companies strictly for those purposes. I would forbid SpaceX to test reusability during taxpayer-supported ISS cargo flights; the company could, however, proceed with a reusability test program on their own dime and, if they enjoyed success, I might allow reusability to become part of the ISS cargo delivery system.


I would require that Boeing build its CST-100 crew vehicle so that it could be converted into a cargo vehicle. It could thus serve as a back-up for SpaceX Dragon. I would also start work on a “Block I Orion” which could back up both CST-100 and Dragon.


Ultimately, I might do away with redundant systems, or systems that did not perform as hoped. So, for example, if the “Block I Orion” suffered recurrent failures that would require costly modifications to rectify, I might simply scrap it. Or, if I found that the CST-100-based cargo spacecraft performed better than Dragon, I might terminate the cargo contract with SpaceX.


The SpaceShip Two test failure requires special treatment here. I have long assumed that space tourism will fail as an industry. I anticipated a scenario like this: a cargo of billionaires burns up during reentry, the lawsuits fly, and most everyone cancels their reservations.


No one needs to fly a suborbital hop with five minutes of weightlessness, any more than they need to ride a roller coaster. It is important to acknowledge that roller coasters that kill their riders do not last long – even if some people persist in wanting to ride them.


I do not know if the SpaceShip Two crash on Halloween will kill space tourism. I do believe that it shows that the current SpaceShip Two design is flawed. It is too complicated, for one thing. Complicated piloted space systems suffer more trouble than simpler ones (no piloted space system can be truly simple). I have often wondered why Sir Richard Branson did not opt for a capsule design.


After Challenger, we made bad choices. We put band-aids on the Shuttle’s flaws and settled for much less than we were promised. We did not initiate work toward a Shuttle replacement, so that even now we have none. We behaved as though space is far less important that it is. It is probably asking too much – one still has the sense that we grossly undervalue space – but I hope that, in light of last week’s failures, we will find the wisdom to look long and hard at our present course and make whatever changes are required.



Furious 7 Brings Cars to Gun Fights in This Week’s Trailer Roundup


The final trailer! Less than a month until our Mockingjay rises! Huzzah!

Pause at: 0:24 for sad, scared Peeta. Natalie Dormer is in the background at 0:43, but we can feel her glare all the way over here. If that’s not a One True Pairing at 0:49 we don’t know what is.

Essential Quote: “I have a message for President Snow: If we burn, you burn with us!”—Katniss Everdeen


The Other One Everyone Is Talking About: Furious 7


For obvious reasons, there is a heavy sadness hanging on this trailer. Paul Walker died in a car accident nearly a year ago, and here we see him suiting up for his final turn as Brian O’Conner, the role that broke his career wide open 13 years ago in the first Fast and the Furious installment. No one could have anticipated the initial or enduring success of this franchise, but it gave us a steady drip of Walker’s SoCal good looks and easy charm for more than a decade. Here’s to you, Paul. May so many cars be raced, and so many more sequels be produced in your honor. In addition to the usual suspects, Furious 7 also welcomes Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey, and Kurt Russell into the action. And thank goodness, because the fastest film series in history didn’t have nearly enough of an Expendables edge to it before.

Pause at: 0:09 for our favorite Furious badass. Stop again at 0:19, 0:45, 0:53, 1:22, 1:28, 1:37, 1:56, 2:00, 2:14, and 2:18 for everything you’ve ever wanted.

Essential Quote: “Just when you think it couldn’t get any better, huh?”—Brian O’Conner


The One You Wish Everyone Would Talk About: Ex Machina


This project is exciting from 360 degrees. It’s directed by Alex Garland, the writer behind 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Dredd; it stars Oscar Isaac, and it’s scored by Geoff Barrow, the founder of Portishead. That is just nuts. Issac plays Nathan Bateman, the reclusive genius CEO of a major Internet search company, and a programmer in his employ named Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) has just won a competition to spend a week at his palatial mountain home. Upon arriving, Caleb learns he is to be the human component in a Turing test to evaluate, well, the humanity of Bateman’s latest AI project—an absolutely gorgeous droid named Ava (played by Alicia Vikander). Obviously, this movie exists because Ava’s capabilities and emotional/intellectual acumen exceed anything Bateman or Smith are prepared to confront. It’s man versus man. It’s man versus woman. It’s man versus machine. It’s man versus self! Ex Machina looks and sounds as seductive as Ava herself, and the notion of a psychological thriller love triangle between two guys and a stunning robot woman who’s more powerful than both her “suitors” combined sounds like every kind of awesome.

Pause at: 0:49 and 1:07 to meet Ava. Stop again at 1:20, 1:30, and 1:35 to see the haunting realization of a wickedly real AI being.

Essential Quote: “One day, the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossils.”—Nathan Bateman


The Next Netflix Project: Marco Polo




So this spot doesn’t give us a crazy amount of plot for Neflix’s next series event, but it sure does make it look enticing. Marco Polo focuses on the famed explorer as he makes his way through (and probably just tries to survive) the court of Kublai Khan, the 13th century Mongolian warlord and emperor. From the looks of this it will be brimming with dimly lit opium dens, sex, fighting, mysticism, and all the things we’ve come to expect from sword and sandals programming—except this time in China! The Mediterranean nations don’t get to have all the fun.

Pause at: Netflix is getting its HBO on at 0:22 with some majorly sweeping period set design. Ew at 0:26. Wethinks this is Kublai Kahn at 0:32. Casual naked cartwheeling at 0:45? Casual opium den hangout at 0:49? Really getting their HBO on at 1:01.

Essential Quote: “Marco, the blood of an adventurer courses through your veins, like a sickness. You will enjoy the greatest adventure of all.”


The Sci-Fi Adventure One: The Last Scout


Fifty years from now humanity has obliterated Earth via a nuclear war between China and the United States. Those who could afford to get off the planet through either private or commercial means have survived. Then things take a sharp turn towards Battlestar Galactica when the human remnant sets out for a new home world. It looks Boom! Pow! Space! Explosions! Ending worlds! Good enough! And it’s also a feel good story in that the whole project was funded via Indiegogo. A little science fiction survival story that could!

Pause at: 0:12, 0:18, 0:31, 0:57—way cool.


The Love Story: Comet


Wow. Considering the emotional impact of this trailer hit with the weight of an entire movie, Comet will either be a wondrous visual feast of well-executed romance or just an emotional death sentence. It follows the story of Dell (Justin Long) and Kimberly (Emmy Rossum), a couple who meets at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch a meteor shower. And that’s where it stops making a whole lot of linear sense. The narrative jumps across time, and seemingly a little bit of space, too. We see Dell and Kimberly alternately as head-over-heels for one another and on the brink of emotional ruin. And we would love to tell you more about it, but really that’s all we’ve got. One thing’s for sure: It’s great to see Justin Long broadening his range with this and the recent nightmare of Kevin Smith’s Tusk. He couldn’t just be a version of the Mac vs. PC guy forever

Pause at: 0:33, 0:47, 0:53, 0:56, and 1:41 for snaps of some of the luscious art direction happening in this movie.

Song: Tom Rosenthal, “It’s OK”

Essential Quote: “There are parallel universes out there where you are with me, and whatever universe that is, that’s the one my heart lives in.”—Dell


The Trippiest: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night


This is an Iranian vampire western that takes place in a town called Bad City. Excited yet?? Bad City is home to all sorts of unsavory elements: streetwalkers, junkies, gangsters … and a lonely vampire that is quietly stalking the residents of this hopeless ghost town. This trailer looks a bit like if Robert Rodriguez directed Let The Right One In and set it in the Middle East. But instead, it’s the first movie from director Lily Amirpour, and it draws inspiration from horror, graphic novels, spaghetti westerns, and the “Iranian New Wave.” We didn’t realize it before, but now that we’ve gotten a taste this is obviously a soup of inspirations we can’t live without.

Pause at: 0:19, 0:27, and 0:44 to see a girl who can most definitely protect herself on the mean streets. Stop at :49, :50, 1:03, and 1:15 for more unique creepies.

Essential Quote: “I’m bad.”—The Girl (Sheila Vand)


The Quirky One: Zero Motivation


Ever wish there were more send-ups of the boring day-to-day operations carried out by women in the Israeli Defense Force? Us too! And our wishes have been granted in the form of Zero Motivation, the first directorial effort from Israeli filmmaker Talya Lavie. It zooms in on the fake lives of several women stationed at a remote desert base with nothing much to do but play Minesweeper and shoot each other with staple guns until their two year term of service is up. It’s sort of like Office Space meets Sgt. Bilko, but with a more acutely sharpened satirical sensibility. Sounds like fun!

Pause at: 0:19. Hard at work. The thrill of service at 0:24, 0:37, 1:26 and 1:48.

Essential Quote: “We’re laidback around here.”


The Small Screen Standout: Babylon


Perhaps one of the greatest elements of this Golden Age of television is the influx of international influence on our domestic shows, and direct access to imports from other countries—mainly the UK. Another great externality? Top-notch film directors and performers making the jump to small screen because juicy roles in serials are as compelling—if not more so—as the movie scripts getting thrown at them. And thanks to all that, here we have Babylon. It’s helmed by Danny Boyle and stars, Brit Marling (swoon), James Nesbitt, Jesse Armstrong, and Paterson Joseph, among others. It’s a comedic drama, but because it’s British, still looks a lot more Luther than Brooklyn Nine-Nine in it’s sensibilities—consider, perhaps, the underrated 2009 one-season wonder The Unusuals for reference. The London police force is suffering a serious image problem, and Chief Constable Richard Miller (Nesbitt) has hired new media whiz kid named Liz Garvey (Marling) to bolster its public relations arm. Unfortunately, a massive outbreak of violence erupts right as Operation Goodwill is set to take effect. This six-part series looks lean, mean and well-worth investing in.

Pause at: 0:27. Street riots are just so bad for business. Look at that Nesbitt scowl at 0:30 and 0:34!

Essential Quote: “Adolph Hitler would sometimes appoint two people to do the same job just to see who was best.”—Liz Garvey, drawing inspiration from all the right places


The Scary One: Starry Eyes


It’s that old familiar story: Girl goes to Hollywood with dreams of making it big … only to sell her soul for fame and transform into a perversion of nature. You know, normal stuff.

Pause at: 0:52. Run away, Sarah! Then at 0:54—we said run away, Sarah! 1:09, 1:20, 1:41, and 1:53 are what happen when you don’t just run away!

Essential Quote: “Sarah, if you can’t fully let go, how can you ever transform into something else?”



Flaw in New ‘Secure’ Credit Cards Would Let Hackers Steal $1M Per Card


Chip-n-PIN cards like the one shown here are going to be widely in use in America by 2015.

Chip-n-PIN cards like the one shown here are going to be widely in use in America by 2015. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images



As U.S. banks and retailers are barreling toward a 2015 deadline to replace magnetic-stripe credit and debit cards with more secure cards that come embedded with a microchip, researchers have announced a critical flaw in the card system.


According to researchers at Newcastle University in the UK, the card system developed by VISA for use in the United Kingdom fails to recognize transactions made in non-UK foreign currencies and can therefore be tricked into approving any transaction up to 999,999.99.


“All a criminal would need to do is set up somewhere like an airport or the London underground where the use of different currencies would appear legitimate.”


What’s more, because the cards allow for contactless transactions, wherein consumers need only to have the card in the vicinity of a reader without swiping it, a thief carrying a card reader designed to read a card that’s stored in a wallet or purse could conduct fraudulent transactions without the victim ever removing their card.


Since the transaction is done offline without going through a retailer’s point-of-sale system, no other security checks are done.


“With just a mobile phone we created a POS terminal that could read a card through a wallet,” Martin Emms, lead researcher of the project that uncovered the flaw, noted in a statement about the findings. “All the checks are carried out on the card rather than the terminal so at the point of transaction, there is nothing to raise suspicions. By pre-setting the amount you want to transfer, you can bump your mobile against someone’s pocket or swipe your phone over a wallet left on a table and approve a transaction.”


In tests the researchers conducted, transactions took less than a second to be approved.


Chip ‘n’ PIN cards, also known as EMV cards, are being rolled out in the United States in an effort to undermine large-scale card breaches—such as those at Target and other retailers—and skimming operations that allow attackers to record the card number and PIN at readers in order to re-use them for fraudulent purchases.


EMV cards have an embedded microchip that authenticates the card as a legitimate bank card to prevent hackers from embossing stolen card data onto blank cards to use it for fraudulent transactions. The chip contains the same data that traditionally is stored on a card’s magnetic stripe, but also has a certificate used to digitally sign each transaction. Even if a thief steals the card data, he can’t generate the code needed for a transaction without the certificate. EMV cards are already implemented widely in Europe and Canada. To pressure U.S. companies into installing card readers needed to process EMV cards securely, VISA has announced a deadline of October 1, 2015. Any company that doesn’t have EMV readers in place by then could face liability for fraudulent transactions that occur with card data stolen from them.


But EMV cards don’t have to make contact with a reader to be used. They can also be used for contactless transactions for speed. The EMV system in the UK limits the maximum value for a contactless transaction to £20, requiring a PIN for anything more than this.


But the researchers found that the system doesn’t recognize foreign currency transactions and therefore doesn’t require a PIN for these.


“This lends itself to multiple attackers across the world collecting small transactions of perhaps €200 at a time for a central rogue merchant who could be located anywhere in the world,” Emms notes. “This previously undocumented flaw around foreign currency, combined with the lack of POS terminal authentication and the ease of skimming contactless credit cards, makes the system more vulnerable to high-value attacks.”


The researchers plan to present their findings this week at a ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Arizona.


“It is not clear from reading the payment protocol how banks would deal with the inconsistencies we have found through our research, hence we believe the vulnerability poses a potential threat,” he said. “The fact that we can by-pass the £20 limit makes this new hack potentially very scalable and lucrative. All a criminal would need to do is set up somewhere like an airport or the London underground where the use of different currencies would appear legitimate.”



Okay Player


The Google Nexus Player, a $99 set-top box that runs the new version of Android TV.

The Google Nexus Player, a $99 set-top box that runs the new version of Android TV. Google



What’s the draw of the Nexus Player, a $99 set-top streamer that’s the first device to run Google’s Android TV platform? It’s not the apps: Roku and Amazon Fire TV have way more of those. It’s not the option to play games with a real game controller: The Amazon Fire TV does that, and its library of controller-optimized games is bigger. And it’s not the HDMI cable, because the Nexus Player doesn’t come with one.


But there actually is a big draw: The Nexus Player and Android TV are the closest a platform has come to a usable form of the Web on your TV—the parts of the Web curated by Google, at least. The player solidly combines voice search, YouTube integration, and Google Cast—the same “throwing” technology found in the Chromecast—to grab pretty much any Web video you’d want to watch and place it on your TV screen.


This web-savviness sets the Nexus Player apart from other set-top boxes, even though the Asus-made hardware looks much like all the rest, with its HDMI port, MicroUSB port, and shuffleboard-puck size. Another thing that sets it apart is the great on-screen interface (powered by the brand-new Lollipop). The ease and clarity it brings to the on-screen browsing experience points to a bright future for Android TV. But it’s still a work in progress.


The biggest problem is the same one that’s dogged all of Google’s attempts at a television player: a slim selection of apps. You can download some apps via the Nexus Player’s own Google Play storefront, but the shelves aren’t well stocked. This is a TV-only version of Google Play. Sure, the Player can run Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Pandora, but I’d be hard-pressed to name any box or smart TV that doesn’t. Among the other Player-installed apps are iHeartRadio, Songza, Crackle, Plex, Food Network, and Bloomberg TV+. There’s also a robust app called Pluto.TV with videos from Funny or Die, GoPro, and a Fail channel with a show called “Fails Nutpunch Faceplant Wipeoutz.”


What the TV version of Google Play doesn’t have is native apps for Amazon Prime Instant Video, HBO Go, Spotify, Showtime Anytime, MLB.TV, and other popular offerings you’ll find on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and smart TV platforms. If you buy this Nexus box, you’ll still have to buy another to get those channels.


Hardcore cord-cutters will still want one, though. Because while the Nexus Player is skimpy on native apps, there’s a workaround: it doubles as a Chromecast. Rather than download apps to the player, you can put Google Cast-ready apps on your phone or tablet and stream them to the Player. By adding the Google Cast extension to the Chrome browser on your computer, you can also cast anything (except for Silverlight and QuickTime content) to your TV.


The Nexus Player is skimpy on native apps. But there’s a workaround: it doubles as a Chromecast.


On the mobile side, there are a lot more Google Cast-compatible apps: HBO Go, MLB.TV, Watch ESPN, NPR One, and Rdio among them. And the ones I tested worked with the Nexus Player, but with tradeoffs. For one, video quality through Google Cast was spottier and more prone to dropouts than with the apps that run on the Player natively. Also, controlling playback through a phone, tablet, or laptop feels more like queuing up a PowerPoint than kicking back and watching TV. On the bright side, handoff features between the Player and other devices were nice: I could cast HBO Go from my tablet to my TV, stop watching, and then pick up where I left off on my phone.


For better or worse, to get the full value of the Nexus Player, you’ll need to be comfortable using Google Cast. And while Google Cast is an awesome differentiating feature, it’s far less compelling as the only way to enjoy HBO Go, Amazon Instant Video, or Spotify on your TV.


Outside of Netflix and Hulu Plus, the main source of big-name movies and shows on the Nexus Player itself is Google Play Movies & TV. Unlike subscription services like Amazon Prime Instant Video, Google Play Movies & TV is a pay-per-view service. There’s no all-you-can-eat plan, just a dim-sum cart—plenty to watch, but it’ll cost you every time. One annoyance is that the default price listed for each movie is for the SD version; it’s not till you click through to buy it that you realize the HD version costs at least $3 more.


App limitations aside, Android TV itself is well designed as a set-top platform. It brings Android 5.0 Lollipop’s “Material Design” look to the big screen, where it shines. The interface is clean, sharp, and airy, and it’s much more colorful and engaging than the darker menus on Roku and Amazon Fire TV. It looks and feels more like a game console; on-screen selections fill the screen in a vibrant circle-wipe animation. The remote is perfectly simple, and there’s a voice-search microphone on top of it.


On other set-top devices, YouTube is generally a lousy cordoned-off experience; you go into a dedicated YouTube app and clumsily type in search terms. Here, YouTube is a powerful, streamlined content engine for the entire system.


The system’s homescreen displays a top row of recommendations based on content you’ve watched and apps you’ve installed. I wish there was a way to curate what appeared there, like an ability to give more weight to certain apps or search queries. Instead, after installing the Food Network app, I got a lot of Chopped and Guy Fieri showing up there. But for the most part, the Player’s YouTube integration makes suggestions more useful and engaging than most.


This is the hidden magic of the Nexus Player. On other set-top devices, YouTube is generally a lousy cordoned-off experience; you go into a dedicated YouTube app and clumsily type in search terms. Here, YouTube is a powerful, streamlined content engine for the entire system. You say “Talking Heads” or “chicken piccata” or “corgi puppies” or “how to tie your shoes” from the homescreen, and you get an instant queue of classic concerts, recipe videos, dogumentaries, or tutorials. This is the best YouTube device I’ve ever used; it surfaces content you didn’t know existed and can entertain you for hours.


The Nexus Player’s remote has a built-in microphone for voice controls. The gaming controller costs an extra $40.

The Nexus Player’s remote has a built-in microphone for voice controls. The gaming controller costs an extra $40. Google



Because it works so well, voice search is a high point of the Nexus Player experience. It quickly became my primary method of finding content. I can’t say that about the voice features on my own TV and phone, which I rarely use. From the main menu, pressing the remote’s microphone button and speaking brings up search results across YouTube, Google Music, Google Play Movies & TV, and a tiny sliver of the Web (weather, sports scores, and movie showtimes). The voice recognition gets confused with foreign-language queries—”Trois Couleurs: Rouge” became “Walk Alone” and “Krzysztof Kieslowski” became “Kristoff get wireless key”—but worked nicely otherwise.


For Web searches, the results certainly could be better. A voice search for “college football scores” or “today’s NFL games” will only bring up a single game—either the last game played or the first one coming up—but stating the name of a specific team gave me what I wanted. Movie showtimes are better, as saying “movie showtimes” will bring up a menu of films showing locally, and saying the name of a film brings up an info card about it with one-click access to local showtimes.


Because it works so well, voice search is a high point of the Nexus Player experience.


The system froze a couple times during my testing, which nobody wants. But rather than having to unplug and replug the box like you do with Roku, there’s a button on the bottom of the Nexus Player that shakes it out of its coma without having to reboot. The same button puts it in Bluetooth pairing mode, which lets you use the separately sold, AA-powered Gamepad for Nexus Player ($40).


As a gaming device, it suffers from the same lack of good content. But once the number of controller-compatible titles in the Google Play Games store bulks up, the Nexus Player will become a promising low-cost gaming console, too. Playing Badland with the controller added an extra sense of gravity when the protagonist(s) were heavy, and Asphalt 8 translated very well to the big screen with console-style controls.


Google has big plans for Android TV. A few TV manufacturers are expected to offer sets with the platform built in, which may help its app ecosystem grow. It’s not there yet: Google Cast can mirror things you’re watching at on your browser or mobile device, but most users will prefer having it all accessible on-screen. Once its app selection catches up, look out. Android TV’s smooth interface and interplay with Google services stand out in the streamer field.



Flaw in New ‘Secure’ Credit Cards Would Let Hackers Steal $1M Per Card


Chip-n-PIN cards like the one shown here are going to be widely in use in America by 2015.

Chip-n-PIN cards like the one shown here are going to be widely in use in America by 2015. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images



As U.S. banks and retailers are barreling toward a 2015 deadline to replace magnetic-stripe credit and debit cards with more secure cards that come embedded with a microchip, researchers have announced a critical flaw in the card system.


According to researchers at Newcastle University in the UK, the card system developed by VISA for use in the United Kingdom fails to recognize transactions made in non-UK foreign currencies and can therefore be tricked into approving any transaction up to 999,999.99.


“All a criminal would need to do is set up somewhere like an airport or the London underground where the use of different currencies would appear legitimate.”


What’s more, because the cards allow for contactless transactions, wherein consumers need only to have the card in the vicinity of a reader without swiping it, a thief carrying a card reader designed to read a card that’s stored in a wallet or purse could conduct fraudulent transactions without the victim ever removing their card.


Since the transaction is done offline without going through a retailer’s point-of-sale system, no other security checks are done.


“With just a mobile phone we created a POS terminal that could read a card through a wallet,” Martin Emms, lead researcher of the project that uncovered the flaw, noted in a statement about the findings. “All the checks are carried out on the card rather than the terminal so at the point of transaction, there is nothing to raise suspicions. By pre-setting the amount you want to transfer, you can bump your mobile against someone’s pocket or swipe your phone over a wallet left on a table and approve a transaction.”


In tests the researchers conducted, transactions took less than a second to be approved.


Chip ‘n’ PIN cards, also known as EMV cards, are being rolled out in the United States in an effort to undermine large-scale card breaches—such as those at Target and other retailers—and skimming operations that allow attackers to record the card number and PIN at readers in order to re-use them for fraudulent purchases.


EMV cards have an embedded microchip that authenticates the card as a legitimate bank card to prevent hackers from embossing stolen card data onto blank cards to use it for fraudulent transactions. The chip contains the same data that traditionally is stored on a card’s magnetic stripe, but also has a certificate used to digitally sign each transaction. Even if a thief steals the card data, he can’t generate the code needed for a transaction without the certificate. EMV cards are already implemented widely in Europe and Canada. To pressure U.S. companies into installing card readers needed to process EMV cards securely, VISA has announced a deadline of October 1, 2015. Any company that doesn’t have EMV readers in place by then could face liability for fraudulent transactions that occur with card data stolen from them.


But EMV cards don’t have to make contact with a reader to be used. They can also be used for contactless transactions for speed. The EMV system in the UK limits the maximum value for a contactless transaction to £20, requiring a PIN for anything more than this.


But the researchers found that the system doesn’t recognize foreign currency transactions and therefore doesn’t require a PIN for these.


“This lends itself to multiple attackers across the world collecting small transactions of perhaps €200 at a time for a central rogue merchant who could be located anywhere in the world,” Emms notes. “This previously undocumented flaw around foreign currency, combined with the lack of POS terminal authentication and the ease of skimming contactless credit cards, makes the system more vulnerable to high-value attacks.”


The researchers plan to present their findings this week at a ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Arizona.


“It is not clear from reading the payment protocol how banks would deal with the inconsistencies we have found through our research, hence we believe the vulnerability poses a potential threat,” he said. “The fact that we can by-pass the £20 limit makes this new hack potentially very scalable and lucrative. All a criminal would need to do is set up somewhere like an airport or the London underground where the use of different currencies would appear legitimate.”



Which Tablet Should You Buy, the Nexus 9 or the iPad Air 2?


The Nexus 9 tablet comes in black, white, or gold. Google is pitching this as a productivity, work-forward device by selling a matching magnetic keyboard accessory.

The Nexus 9 tablet comes in black, white, or gold. Google is pitching this as a productivity, work-forward device by selling a matching magnetic keyboard accessory. Alex Washburn / WIRED



It’s been roughly 16 months since we last saw a Nexus tablet come out of Mountain View. (Can we get a moment of silence for the much-beloved Nexus 7? RIP.) And it’s been two full years since the Nexus 10 came and quietly went. So, when Google announced the Goldilocks-sized, spec’d out Nexus 9, there was much anticipation.


But after a few days of playing with it, I am, well, a bit confused. This tablet clearly has the potential to be great, and yet, it isn’t. Not yet at least.


While I don’t feel like I’ve been able to spend enough time with the Nexus 9 to give it the full review treatment just yet, it seems appropriate to compare it to Apple’s similarly-sized and wildly-popular new tablet, the iPad Air 2. And that’s just what I’m going to do.


One caveat: At the 11th hour, Google pushed out an OTA update to all review devices to address some “performance issues.” I installed it, but have only had half a day to play with it since then. It has indeed improved the performance of my review unit, but it seems there are still some gremlins in the software. This write-up reflects my impressions of the tablet post-update, but obviously, I would have preferred to have days—not hours—with it in its more complete state. Meanwhile, Google is still working with me to fully resolve the issues. If there are any more updates, I will write about them here.


Tale of the Tape


Google’s Nexus 9 (full specs) weighs in at 14.99 (call it 15) ounces and has a reach of 8.98 x 6.05 x 0.31 inches. Its hardware is made by HTC, but the software comes directly from Google. Along with the Nexus 6 smartphone, this tablet is among the first devices to run Android 5.0, aka Lollipop. It has an 8.9-inch IPS LCD screen with a 1536 x 2048 pixel resolution, which gives you 281 pixels per inch (PPI). It has 2GB of RAM and it runs Nvidia’s beast of a processor in the quad-core Tegra K1 (with Kepler DX1 GPU) clocked at 2.3GHz.


Apple’s iPad Air 2 (full specs) weighs in at a slightly heavier 15.42 ounces and has a reach of 9.45 x 6.67 x 0.24 inches. Its hardware and software both come directly from Apple, like they do. It runs iOS 8.1. It has a 9.7-inch IPS LCD with 1536 x 2048 pixels, which gives you 264 pixels per inch (PPI). It has 2GB of RAM and it runs Apple’s own triple-core A8X processor clocked at 1.5GHz.


Now come out swinging.


Display


The displays on both of these tablets are excellent. Both are extremely high resolution. Yes, the Nexus 9 has 17 more pixels per inch, but that is not a difference you can see, no matter how close you get your eyeballs (and not to brag, by my eyes are still better than 20/20). It’s impossible to discern individual pixels on either of them, so A+ for both there.


Both displays are plenty bright, too. Even in direct sunlight I was able to read both screens clearly. To my eyes, I think the Nexus 9 puts out just a bit more light, but the iPad Air 2 has slightly less reflective glass, hence less glare. Colors look very nice on both, though the iPad tends to skew slightly more blue. The iPad’s larger size makes a difference when you’re watching a movie, but then you lose some portability for it. This round is pretty much a toss-up.


Design


For sleekness, the iPad is the hands-down winner. It’s thinner, it looks more high-end, and the aluminum back makes it feel stronger. But looks aren’t everything.


The Nexus 9 may not be as much of a looker as the Air 2, but guess what? It’s much more comfortable to hold. It’s not even a full half-ounce lighter than the iPad, but it feels like it weighs two or three ounces less. It’s extremely well-balanced. Not only that, the brushed plastic back is much, much grippier than the slick aluminum on the iPad, and I felt that it was far less likely that I’d accidentally drop the Nexus.


Also, because of its size, the Nexus 9 is just a bit more portable. It’s not as jacket-pocket friendly as the Nexus 7 was, but it’s definitely more likely to squeeze in than the Air 2. The iPad does have the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which is a nice feature, but aside from adding some convenience and security, it’s hard to argue that it’s an absolutely mandatory feature on a tablet. Touch ID makes still perfect sense on a smartphone, which is the device more likely to leave the house, and the one more frequently sent through the sleep/wake cycle. The iPad is for kicking back on the couch. In that regard, Touch ID is outweighed by the front-facing speakers on the Nexus 9. We’re still looking at a split-decision here.


The Apple iPad Air 2.

The Apple iPad Air 2. Josh Valcarcel/WIRED



Audio


This is a pretty easy one. Both devices pump out a fair amount of noise, and both sound really pretty good. In terms of pure volume, the iPad Air 2 churns out more, and it even sounds reasonably clear, but that’s not the full story.


The Nexus 9 has dual, front-facing speakers. When you hold it in landscape mode, it comes in stereo, and the sound is very clean and clear. It’s also blasting right at you. Playing Dead Trigger 2 at full volume, I could really feel my cortisol levels spike like never before. In contrast, the iPad Air’s speakers are both on the bottom of the device if you’re holding it in portrait mode, which sends the sound downwards. Hold it in landscape, and it’s all coming out the right side. Even more problematic: your right hand is very, very likely going to block that speaker. This is especially true while you’re gaming.


Nexus 9 wins the sound battle.


Camera


Both tablets have 8-megapixel rear-facing cameras. But this doesn’t matter because there is almost no excuse to use the camera on your tablet over the camera on your phone. Seriously, do you know how dumb you look? Do you realize how much that big thing blocks your view and the view of others around you? Do you understand how much more likely to drop it you are? If I had to pick one, I would bet the iPad’s camera has the edge with its newly redesigned sensor. But still. Have some self-respect.


Software


Lollipop (Android 5.0) is the best version of Android, period. It has taken a great leap forward in intuitiveness. Things flow together nicely, animations add clarity and don’t feel superfluous, and the stuff you want to access is, well, more accessible. It’s great. The lockscreen has been totally redone and is far more useful. It’s easy to get a peek at your incoming notifications and messages and to deal with them without even having to navigate into the app. The notification panel follows suit, and give it a second swipe down, and you’ve got quick access to your most-used settings.


The Gmail and Calendar apps have both been overhauled and they look fantastic. Gmail now makes it very easy to flip between your various accounts and the folders within each. In landscape mode, it switches into a split-pane view which is just an extremely easy way to read through your queue of messages. Calendar now auto-fills in information as you’re typing, including people from your contacts and places from, well, anywhere. In the main input box type in “Dinner with Jim” and it says, “Jim Kane?” Yes. Continue typing “at The Walrus…” and it finishes, “The Walrus and The Carpenter?” Yes. And the address (and a map) go right into the entry. Very slick.


In comparison, iOS 8.1 is much like iOS 8 and iOS 7 before it. And that’s not a negative. If you’re coming from an iPad (or an iPhone) and the prospect of learning a new operating system scares you, then that logical continuity is a nice feature; you get what you expect. It’s extremely clean. It generally works very well. Its app ecosystem is still second to none and games (and other high profile apps) generally still arrive for iOS before they make it over to Android. It’s come a long way with the addition of the notification center and the systems settings. Siri is… well, she’s OK.


The truth of the matter is that it simply feels like Android 5.0 is more advanced than iOS 8.1. Banner features are more deeply integrated, like Google Now, which is more customizable. Plus, it just feels fresher and more futuristic. There are definitely some stability problems in this first release of Lollipop, but there were bugs in the first release of iOS 8, too. Ultimately, this is Android’s biggest update yet, and I think it’s not hard to argue that, feature for feature, it’s handily leapfrogged iOS at this point.


Performance


Again, with the caveat that Google released a last-minute update for the OS before we went to print, right now the iPad Air 2 blows the doors off the Nexus 9. Apps open noticeably faster, there’s less lag while navigating, all of your touches are registered instantly, and everything is silky smooth. The Nexus 9 can’t claim any of those things.


The last-minute update did fix some performance issues. Previously heavy games like Dead Trigger 2 were extremely jerky. Post-update, they play incredibly well. But it’s the day-to-day stuff that’s still problematic. Switching between tabs in Chrome, opening the task manager, and really opening or closing just about anything, there’s a hesitation. Way more of a hesitation than there should be with the Tegra K1 under the hood. I haven’t heard that this is an issue with the Nexus 6, so I have to believe that something is going on here on the tablet specifically. Some sort of hardware/software disagreement. It definitely adds frustration to what would otherwise be a pretty awesome device. Point: iPad.


Price and Conclusion


The 16 GB version of the iPad Air 2 is $500. The 16 GB version of the Nexus 9 is $400. Our recommendation? Wait, if you can. Right now the 100 buck advantage the Nexus has doesn’t outweigh its current performance issues. I think Google is likely going to figure out what the problem is and get it patched sooner rather than later, in which case this reviewer would lean toward the Nexus 9. But if you absolutely had to buy a tablet today, then based on both devices’ current performance, the iPad Air 2 is the way to go.


There are other flavors of both tablets as well. The Nexus 9 comes in a 32GB size for $480, and a 32GB with LTE for $600. The iPad Air 2 comes in 64GB for $600 and 128GB for $700, and if you want to add LTE, tack on $130 to any of them. So you’ve definitely got more options with the iPad (including three colors). Plus an insane amount of cases and custom accessories that the teeming masses pump out for Apple products.


Basically, the Nexus 9 is an almost-awesome tablet. I suspect it will go full-blown awesome with a software update or two. The iPad Air 2 is already awesome. No waiting, no uncertainty.



Okay Player


The Google Nexus Player, a $99 set-top box that runs the new version of Android TV.

The Google Nexus Player, a $99 set-top box that runs the new version of Android TV. Google



What’s the draw of the Nexus Player, a $99 set-top streamer that’s the first device to run Google’s Android TV platform? It’s not the apps: Roku and Amazon Fire TV have way more of those. It’s not the option to play games with a real game controller: The Amazon Fire TV does that, and its library of controller-optimized games is bigger. And it’s not the HDMI cable, because the Nexus Player doesn’t come with one.


But there actually is a big draw: The Nexus Player and Android TV are the closest a platform has come to a usable form of the Web on your TV—the parts of the Web curated by Google, at least. The player solidly combines voice search, YouTube integration, and Google Cast—the same “throwing” technology found in the Chromecast—to grab pretty much any Web video you’d want to watch and place it on your TV screen.


This web-savviness sets the Nexus Player apart from other set-top boxes, even though the Asus-made hardware looks much like all the rest, with its HDMI port, MicroUSB port, and shuffleboard-puck size. Another thing that sets it apart is the great on-screen interface (powered by the brand-new Lollipop). The ease and clarity it brings to the on-screen browsing experience points to a bright future for Android TV. But it’s still a work in progress.


The biggest problem is the same one that’s dogged all of Google’s attempts at a television player: a slim selection of apps. You can download some apps via the Nexus Player’s own Google Play storefront, but the shelves aren’t well stocked. This is a TV-only version of Google Play. Sure, the Player can run Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Pandora, but I’d be hard-pressed to name any box or smart TV that doesn’t. Among the other Player-installed apps are iHeartRadio, Songza, Crackle, Plex, Food Network, and Bloomberg TV+. There’s also a robust app called Pluto.TV with videos from Funny or Die, GoPro, and a Fail channel with a show called “Fails Nutpunch Faceplant Wipeoutz.”


What the TV version of Google Play doesn’t have is native apps for Amazon Prime Instant Video, HBO Go, Spotify, Showtime Anytime, MLB.TV, and other popular offerings you’ll find on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and smart TV platforms. If you buy this Nexus box, you’ll still have to buy another to get those channels.


Hardcore cord-cutters will still want one, though. Because while the Nexus Player is skimpy on native apps, there’s a workaround: it doubles as a Chromecast. Rather than download apps to the player, you can put Google Cast-ready apps on your phone or tablet and stream them to the Player. By adding the Google Cast extension to the Chrome browser on your computer, you can also cast anything (except for Silverlight and QuickTime content) to your TV.


The Nexus Player is skimpy on native apps. But there’s a workaround: it doubles as a Chromecast.


On the mobile side, there are a lot more Google Cast-compatible apps: HBO Go, MLB.TV, Watch ESPN, NPR One, and Rdio among them. And the ones I tested worked with the Nexus Player, but with tradeoffs. For one, video quality through Google Cast was spottier and more prone to dropouts than with the apps that run on the Player natively. Also, controlling playback through a phone, tablet, or laptop feels more like queuing up a PowerPoint than kicking back and watching TV. On the bright side, handoff features between the Player and other devices were nice: I could cast HBO Go from my tablet to my TV, stop watching, and then pick up where I left off on my phone.


For better or worse, to get the full value of the Nexus Player, you’ll need to be comfortable using Google Cast. And while Google Cast is an awesome differentiating feature, it’s far less compelling as the only way to enjoy HBO Go, Amazon Instant Video, or Spotify on your TV.


Outside of Netflix and Hulu Plus, the main source of big-name movies and shows on the Nexus Player itself is Google Play Movies & TV. Unlike subscription services like Amazon Prime Instant Video, Google Play Movies & TV is a pay-per-view service. There’s no all-you-can-eat plan, just a dim-sum cart—plenty to watch, but it’ll cost you every time. One annoyance is that the default price listed for each movie is for the SD version; it’s not till you click through to buy it that you realize the HD version costs at least $3 more.


App limitations aside, Android TV itself is well designed as a set-top platform. It brings Android 5.0 Lollipop’s “Material Design” look to the big screen, where it shines. The interface is clean, sharp, and airy, and it’s much more colorful and engaging than the darker menus on Roku and Amazon Fire TV. It looks and feels more like a game console; on-screen selections fill the screen in a vibrant circle-wipe animation. The remote is perfectly simple, and there’s a voice-search microphone on top of it.


On other set-top devices, YouTube is generally a lousy cordoned-off experience; you go into a dedicated YouTube app and clumsily type in search terms. Here, YouTube is a powerful, streamlined content engine for the entire system.


The system’s homescreen displays a top row of recommendations based on content you’ve watched and apps you’ve installed. I wish there was a way to curate what appeared there, like an ability to give more weight to certain apps or search queries. Instead, after installing the Food Network app, I got a lot of Chopped and Guy Fieri showing up there. But for the most part, the Player’s YouTube integration makes suggestions more useful and engaging than most.


This is the hidden magic of the Nexus Player. On other set-top devices, YouTube is generally a lousy cordoned-off experience; you go into a dedicated YouTube app and clumsily type in search terms. Here, YouTube is a powerful, streamlined content engine for the entire system. You say “Talking Heads” or “chicken piccata” or “corgi puppies” or “how to tie your shoes” from the homescreen, and you get an instant queue of classic concerts, recipe videos, dogumentaries, or tutorials. This is the best YouTube device I’ve ever used; it surfaces content you didn’t know existed and can entertain you for hours.


The Nexus Player’s remote has a built-in microphone for voice controls. The gaming controller costs an extra $40.

The Nexus Player’s remote has a built-in microphone for voice controls. The gaming controller costs an extra $40. Google



Because it works so well, voice search is a high point of the Nexus Player experience. It quickly became my primary method of finding content. I can’t say that about the voice features on my own TV and phone, which I rarely use. From the main menu, pressing the remote’s microphone button and speaking brings up search results across YouTube, Google Music, Google Play Movies & TV, and a tiny sliver of the Web (weather, sports scores, and movie showtimes). The voice recognition gets confused with foreign-language queries—”Trois Couleurs: Rouge” became “Walk Alone” and “Krzysztof Kieslowski” became “Kristoff get wireless key”—but worked nicely otherwise.


For Web searches, the results certainly could be better. A voice search for “college football scores” or “today’s NFL games” will only bring up a single game—either the last game played or the first one coming up—but stating the name of a specific team gave me what I wanted. Movie showtimes are better, as saying “movie showtimes” will bring up a menu of films showing locally, and saying the name of a film brings up an info card about it with one-click access to local showtimes.


Because it works so well, voice search is a high point of the Nexus Player experience.


The system froze a couple times during my testing, which nobody wants. But rather than having to unplug and replug the box like you do with Roku, there’s a button on the bottom of the Nexus Player that shakes it out of its coma without having to reboot. The same button puts it in Bluetooth pairing mode, which lets you use the separately sold, AA-powered Gamepad for Nexus Player ($40).


As a gaming device, it suffers from the same lack of good content. But once the number of controller-compatible titles in the Google Play Games store bulks up, the Nexus Player will become a promising low-cost gaming console, too. Playing Badland with the controller added an extra sense of gravity when the protagonist(s) were heavy, and Asphalt 8 translated very well to the big screen with console-style controls.


Google has big plans for Android TV. A few TV manufacturers are expected to offer sets with the platform built in, which may help its app ecosystem grow. It’s not there yet: Google Cast can mirror things you’re watching at on your browser or mobile device, but most users will prefer having it all accessible on-screen. Once its app selection catches up, look out. Android TV’s smooth interface and interplay with Google services stand out in the streamer field.



Which Tablet Should You Buy: The Nexus 9 or the iPad Air 2


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How Ebola Healthcare Workers Get Dressed




Glenna Gordon‘s revealing portraits of African healthcare workers suiting up to combat Ebola are more than instructional. They are touching. By showing us the brave men and women beneath all that protective gear, she’s humanized the people risking their lives under trying conditions so others might live.


The photos, taken in Liberia and Sierra Leone, show the laborious process of donning the suits that must be worn while tending to the sick, the dying and the dead. Seeing volunteers add one layer of protection after another until only their eyes are visible underscores the risk they are taking. And by starting each series with a portrait of the person wearing only hospital scrubs, Gordon literally puts a face to the bravery.


“I think sometimes we become desensitized to stories like this,” the photographer says. “If you’ve seen one person in a hazmat suit, it’s like you’ve you seen 10. I wanted to make sure we remembered these are normal people who are volunteering to help. No one is being forced to go.”


Gordon spent September and early October in western Africa for the The Wall Street Journal . Her main assignment was photographing clinics and following burial teams, but it wasn’t long before she started shooting these portraits. Each photo in her series documents a step in the suiting up process. Workers start with gloves, then don Tyvek suits, boots, masks, eye protection, aprons, and another pair of gloves.


According to the World Health Organization, there have been 13,703 cases of Ebola and 4,920 deaths worldwide. Sierra Leone and Liberia have been hit hardest. Those fighting the epidemic have not been spared; the WHO reports 521 healthcare workers have been infected and 272 have died. Gordon said many of the people she photographed spoke honestly about their fear of contracting the disease. Sonnie Ville, a 34-year-old former office clerk with two children, says she almost quit after the first day. She waited three weeks before telling her mother she was working around Ebola.


“I was so afraid,” Ville told Gordon. “But I encouraged myself that I can make it. My people are dying, and if I go back home, more people will die.”


It was scary for Gordon too. She never went into containment areas and stayed out of houses where people were sick so she didn’t have to wear full protection. But the assignment still required the utmost caution. Every time she got out of the car she wore rubber boots and when she was out making pictures she never touched anything. And she was forever washing her hands and gear.


It was hard being afraid, she says, but it was even worse being unable to interact closely with people; caution required documenting things from a safe distance. She’s spent years working in Africa and says her photography has focused on telling personal stories. This time, she says, she felt completely removed and dehumanized.


“The things I love most about being a photographer are things like greeting people and ingratiating myself,” she says. “I never want to stand six feet away and scream questions at people.”