Axiom wins NASA approval to attach commercial habitat to space station

NASA has selected Axiom Space, a Houston-based startup partnering with Boeing and other aerospace contractors, to attach a commercial habitat to the International Space Station and begin constructing an orbiting complex that the company says could ultimately replace the international research outpost.

Axiom won a NASA competition to connect a commercial module to the forward port on space station’s Harmony module, or Node 2, officials announced Monday. NASA made available the port in a commercial solicitation last June, asking companies for proposals to join a public-private partnership with the space agency to develop and demonstrate technologies for a future commercial space station.

“Axiom’s work to develop a commercial destination in space is a critical step for NASA to meet its long-term needs for astronaut training, scientific research, and technology demonstrations in low Earth orbit,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement. “We are transforming the way NASA works with industry to benefit the global economy and advance space exploration. It is a similar partnership that this year will return the capability of American astronauts to launch to the space station on American rockets from American soil.”

NASA said it will begin negotiations with Axiom on a firm-fixed-price contract to build and deliver the module to the space station, with a five-year base performance period and a two-year option. NASA selected Axiom through a solicitation known as Appendix I in the space agency’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships 2, or NextSTEP 2, program designed to foster public-private partnerships in spaceflight.

Axiom was founded in 2016 by Kam Ghaffarian, an aerospace industry entrepreneur, and Mike Suffredini, who was NASA’s program manager for the International Space Station from 2005 until 2015.

“We appreciate the bold decision on the part of NASA to open up a commercial future in low Earth orbit,” Suffredini said in a statement. “This selection is a recognition of the uniquely qualified nature of the Axiom team and our commercial plan to create and support a thriving, sustainable, and American-led LEO ecosystem.”

NASA says it selected Axiom to provide at least one commercial module for attachment to the space station. But Axiom has more ambitious objectives.

Axiom says it plans to build and launch several modules to form the “Axiom Segment” of the International Space Station. The company said it targets launch of the first module in the latter half of 2024.

The elements planned by Axiom include a node module, an orbital research and manufacturing facility, a crew habitat, and a “large-windowed Earth observatory” that is similar in appearance to the International Space Station’s cupola module. Axiom said the new commercial segment will add more research and habitation facilities to the ISS, and provide “novel avenues of research in areas such as isolation studies and Earth observation.”

Research currently conducted on the ISS could be transferred to the new commercial facility gradually to prevent interruptions with the ISS is retired, Axiom said in a statement.

While its partnership with NASA is focused on connecting a module to the International Space Station, Axiom plans to detach its commercial modules when the ISS reaches its retirement date, forming a standalone, free-flying commercial orbital station. Before the International Space Station is decommissioned and the Axiom Segment is detached, Axiom aims to launch a solar power platform to provide the commercial modules the electricity and cooling previously provided by the ISS.

Axiom also plans to launch crewed flights to the ISS and the ISS/Axiom complex at a rate of about two to three missions per year, the company said in a statement.

The industry team assembled by Axiom includes Boeing and Thales Alenia Space of Italy. Boeing and Thales built most of the pressurized modules on the U.S. segment the International Space Station, and Boeing’s Starliner commercial crew capsule could fly private astronauts to and from the ISS and the Axiom station.

Other partners identified by Axiom include Intuitive Machines and Maxar Technologies. Intuitive Machines was also co-founded in Houston by Ghaffarian, and Maxar is a leading manufacturer of large commercial satellites, including the Power and Propulsion Element for NASA’s planned Gateway mini-space station to orbit the moon.

“Axiom exists to provide the infrastructure in space for a variety of users to conduct research, discover new technologies, test systems for exploration of the moon and Mars, manufacture superior products for use in orbit and on the ground, and ultimately improve life back on Earth,” Suffredini said in a statement. “As we build on the legacy and foundation established by the ISS program, we look forward to working with NASA and the ecosystem of current and future international partners on this seminal effort.”

The U.S. government is in the process of approving an extension to NASA’s support for the International Space Station to 2028 or 2030. By that time, NASA managers hope commercial operators like Axiom could take over management of a replacement space station in low Earth orbit.

“We know the space station can’t last forever, and we need to move as quickly as we can to make sure we don’t have a gap in low Earth orbit,” Bridenstine said.

Turning over operations in low Earth orbit to the private sector would allow NASA to focus government spending on deep space exploration, such as human missions to the moon and Mars.

“The goal is we need to make sure we don’t have a gap in low Earth orbit, so we need to accelerate as fast as possible commercial capabilities,” Bridenstine told Spaceflight Now last month. “That means we’ve got to have commercial resupply, commercial crew … and, of course, we need to have a day where we have commercial space stations.

“In order to have commercial space stations, we need demand for activities in low Earth orbit, commercial demand,” Bridenstine said. “So things like we’re working on on the International Space Station, things like industrialized biomedicine and advanced materials, those are two areas where I think there’s a lot of promise for a demand for human habitation in low Earth orbit.”

NASA released studies performed by 12 companies last May assessing potential growth of a commercial market for a crewed research facility in low Earth orbit. The studies submitted to NASA came from Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Boeing, Deloitte Consulting, KBRWyle, Lockheed Martin, McKinsey & Company, NanoRacks, Northrop Grumman, Sierra Nevada Corp., Space Adventures and Maxar.

Weeks after the studies were released, NASA announced it was opening up a port on the space station for a commercial company to connect its own module to the ISS. Axiom won the competition, and a NASA spokesperson said Monday that Axiom is the only company the agency will select for the Harmony port.

NASA also announced a pricing structure for private astronauts who launch on Boeing or SpaceX commercial crew spacecraft to live and work aboard the International Space Station.

There is already one experimental commercial module attached to the space station. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, was built by Bigelow Aerospace and launched to the station aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo mission in 2016.

BEAM was built to test the viability of an expandable, or inflatable, soft-sided module to provide habitation for space crews, and NASA has been satisfied with the module’s performance. After analyzing technical results from the module’s first few years in orbit, NASA determined BEAM can safely remain at the ISS until at least 2028 to provide extra stowage volume.

In an interview last month with Spaceflight Now, Bridenstine said developing a commercial market and commercial technology for space habitation has been a “stumbling block” for NASA.

The space agency’s earlier emphasis in commercialization focused on launch and transportation for cargo and crews. Now it’s time to take the next step and commercialize human operations in low Earth orbit, Bridenstine said.

“It is a stumbling block, and yes we need to solve it,” he said. “There are two elements to it. One is the demand for habitation, and one is the supply. NASA has made huge investments in the supply of launch for both cargo and crew. We need to probably make some bigger investments into habitation in low Earth orbit.

“So there is no doubt a need there where NASA needs to lead, and we’re going to have to step up to the plate and do that,” Bridenstine said.

“NASA intends to have a presence in low Earth orbit forever,” Bridenstine said. “We don’t ever want to leave low Earth orbit, but in order to do that, we’re going to have to be the customer. And probably at the beginning, we’re going to have to be the biggest customer. We’re going to probably have to be the tenant customer. But the goal is that over time, there will be enough demand to where there will be more habitation than just what NASA is needing.”

Other companies with concepts for a commercial space station in low Earth orbit, like Bigelow and NanoRacks, can propose their plans to NASA in a separate competition to develop a free-flying, independent commercial space station. NASA has not yet released the solicitation NextSTEP 2 solicitation for an orbital free-flyer.

“I would say there are commercial partners out there that don’t necessarily need the port (on ISS),” Bridenstine said.

Due To New California Law, Uber Allows Some Drivers To Set Their Own Rates

Uber is testing a new feature in California that allows some drivers to set their own rates.

The move comes in response to a new state law that requires more companies to convert their contract workers to employees, which means offering them benefits and added protections. Companies including Uber, Lyft and delivery app Postmates argue that doing so would upend their business model and eliminate the flexibility inherent to the gig economy.

Uber is currently testing a feature at airports in Sacramento, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara that allows drivers to increase fares in 10% increments, up to five times the base rate. Riders are then matched with the lowest fare.

In the coming days, Uber says it will also allow drivers to decrease their prices below the base rate and opt out of surge pricing. It’s part of an effort to give drivers more control — and bolster the argument that they’re truly contractors rather than employees.

The company acknowledges the experiment could have unexpected consequences.

“It could create more volatility for riders who expect a level of consistency in prices that could change as a result of this,” said Daniel Danker, head of driver product at Uber. “And this does add some meaningful complexity to the driver’s experience that gives them even more control on how their earnings work.”

Driver and rider confusion

Nar Bustamante, a traveler at Sacramento International Airport returning from Las Vegas, said he read about the new pricing experiment before landing.

“I think it opens up the road to many misinterpretations between rider and driver,” he said. “I don’t really know what the normal rate is. It didn’t say: ‘Here’s what the normal rate would be.’ So, I’m curious to see where this particular ride ends up.”

Drivers in Sacramento appear to be split on the new feature.

Adnan Badaoui, who has been driving for Uber for four years, began using it last week. He says even a small rate increase can add up for drivers.

“It’s not that much difference my friend, but it makes a difference to us, as a driver,” he said.

But driver Kim Beaver hasn’t had much luck. When the feature launched, she set her fare 50% higher than the base rate and waited for an hour without any activity.

“It’s just going to be chaos and frustrating for people,” Beaver said. “You’ll be waiting an hour to two hours to God knows how long.”

Gig companies continue to negotiate with state officials, seeking relief from the new labor law that requires companies to convert many contract workers to employees.

But Francis J. Mootz III, professor of law at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, says efforts like Uber’s new pricing feature may not be enough to convince lawmakers.

“Two or three years ago, if Uber and Lyft and other ride-share companies had really tried to restructure in a way to give workers true independence, true entrepreneurial opportunities, it might’ve been different,” Mootz said.

Timeline for Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit with 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network.

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is scheduled to lift off Monday at 9:49 a.m. EST (1449 GMT) from the Complex 40 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Falcon 9 will head northeast from Cape Canaveral over the Atlantic Ocean to place the 60 Starlink satellites into a circular orbit around 180 miles (290 kilometers) above Earth. The satellites will use their ion thrusters to maneuver into their higher orbit for testing, before finally proceeding to an operational orbit at an altitude of approximately 341 miles (550 kilometers).

The Falcon 9’s first stage will target a landing on SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Atlantic Ocean nearly 400 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral.

The first stage booster launching tonight previously flew on two missions. The booster first launched from the Kennedy Space Center in March 2019 with SpaceX’s first unpiloted Crew Dragon capsule, then launched again in June 2019 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with the Canadian Radarsat Sonstellation Mission.

For Monday’s mission, SpaceX will also attempt to catch both halves of the Falcon 9’s payload fairing using nets aboard the ocean-going ships “Ms. Tree” and “Ms. Chief” in the Atlantic Ocean.

T-0:00:00: Liftoff

After the rocket’s nine Merlin engines pass an automated health check, hold-down clamps will release the Falcon 9 booster for liftoff from Complex 40.
After the rocket’s nine Merlin engines pass an automated health check, hold-down clamps will release the Falcon 9 booster for liftoff from pad 40.

T+0:01:13: Max Q

The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure, a few seconds after surpassing the speed of sound.

T+0:02:33: MECO

The Falcon 9’s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.
The Falcon 9’s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.

T+0:02:36: Stage 1 Separation

The Falcon 9’s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.
The Falcon 9’s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.

T+0:02:43: Stage 2 Ignition

The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for an approximately 6-minute burn to inject the Jason 3 satellite into a parking orbit.
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for an approximately six-and-a-half-minute burn to inject the Starlink satellites into a parking orbit.

T+0:03:24: Fairing Jettison

The 5.2-meter (17.1-foot) diameter payload fairing jettisons once the Falcon 9 rocket ascends through the dense lower atmosphere. The 43-foot-tall fairing is made of two clamshell-like halves composed of carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb core.
The 5.2-meter (17.1-foot) diameter payload fairing jettisons once the Falcon 9 rocket ascends through the dense lower atmosphere. The 43-foot-tall fairing is made of two clamshell-like halves composed of carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb core.

T+0:06:41: Stage 1 Entry Burn Complete

A subset of the first stage’s Merlin 1D engines completes an entry burn to slow down for landing. A final landing burn will occur just before touchdown on SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” around 385 miles (620 kilometers) northeast of Cape Canaveral.

T+0:08:24: Stage 1 Landing

The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster touches down on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

T+0:08:49: SECO 1

The Merlin 1D vacuum engine turns off after placing the Starlink satellites in a temporary parking orbit, beginning a 36-minute coast in space.

T+0:45:55: Stage 2 Restart

The Falcon 9's second stage engine ignites again for a 12-second burn to circularize its orbit.
The Falcon 9’s second stage engine ignites again for a 2-second burn to circularize its orbit.

T+0:45:57: SECO 2

The Merlin 1D vacuum engine shuts down after reaching a target orbit with a high point of 857 miles (1,380 kilometers), a low point of 825 miles (1,328 kilometers) and an inclination of 66 degrees.
The Merlin 1D vacuum engine shuts down after reaching a target orbit about 180 miles (290 kilometers) high with an inclination of approximately 53 degrees.

T+1:01:48: Starlink Deployment

The 60 flat-panel Starlink satellites, each with a mass of about 573 pounds (260 kilograms) deploy from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage.
Visa just backed a payments start-up that powers popular fintech apps like Monzo and Revolut

Financial technology start-up Currencycloud, which powers cross-border payments for a number of popular finance apps, has raised $80 million in a funding round backed by Visa.

Based in the U.K., Currencycloud sells payment software for banks and fintech firms to process their international transactions. Though not as well-known as consumer-focused peers like Monzo and Revolut, the company provides some of the crucial “plumbing” in the background for such apps to operate.

“We call the segment embedded finance,” Currencycloud CEO Mike Laven told CNBC in an interview, explaining the firm embeds its product into platforms from big banks and fintechs. “We’re probably the most important business that you’ve never heard of. But that’s conscientious on our part. We do not have a strategy where we compete with our customers.”

The firm’s latest series of funding was co-led by SAP’s venture arm Sapphire and Visa, and also attracted backing from Google, the investment arm of the World Bank, French lender BNP Paribas and Japanese bank SBI. Visa’s treasurer, Colleen Ostrowski, will join Currencycloud’s board following the deal.

Currencycloud counts Visa as a strategic investor, Laven said, and has partnered with the payments network to provide its clients access to Currencycloud’s technology. The firm also works with a number of so-called challenger banks in the U.K. — including Revolut, Monzo and Starling — which have racked up millions of users who bank with them using only an app and debit card.

“Their end-user customers, for the most part, will never see that we’re there,” Laven said. “We’re a piece of embedded finance in the tech stack. It’s not as sexy, but it’s an incredibly good business.” One of the company’s products, Spark, lets clients collect, store, convert and pay in 35 currencies.

Asia expansion

Currencycloud’s chief explained the market for business-to-business fintech — a sector that includes competing payment processors like Stripe, Adyen and Checkout.com — is “much larger than the consumer business” and “more profitable,” albeit “harder.”

Though his business is not yet in the black, Laven said “we could get there with the current round if we decided to,” but that it had more room to grow before becoming profitable. “Our emphasis right now is not on profitability, our emphasis is on the strength of our offering and an expansion into other markets,” he said.

The company’s largest market currently is Europe, Laven said, while it has been increasingly investing in North America and is now looking to expand into Asia, where fintech has seen significant adoption rates. In China, for example, mobile wallets like Alipay and WeChat Pay have become commonplace, with many Chinese consumers using their phones to pay for things.

The investment in Currencycloud comes not long after Visa’s $5.3 billion acquisition of Plaid, a company that specializes in application programming interface software to link fintech apps with people’s bank accounts. Investors have been piling into these behind-the-scenes players, with Checkout.com winning a $230 million round and Stripe raising $250 million last year.

Currencycloud has now raised over $140 million from investors and claims to have processed north of $50 billion in global payments since it was founded in 2012. The company declined to disclose its valuation.

Quit smoking and you may add a decade to your life, but don’t vape, says Surgeon General

Stopping smoking at any age could add a decade to your life, but don’t bother quitting with e-cigarettes — there’s not enough evidence it works, the Surgeon General says.

In an interview before the release of the first Surgeon General report on smoking cessation in 30 years, Dr. Jerome Adams urged those as old as 85 to quit smoking and added fuel to the burning debate over the benefits and risks of vaping, which has been billed as a smoking alternative but also has led millions of young people to start using nicotine.

While nations such as Britain recommend vaping as a way to stop smoking, Adams urged U.S. consumers to try one of the many Food and Drug Administration-approved smoking cessation products instead of vaping because there isn’t “sufficient evidence” it works.

The health care field needs to do more to discourage smoking too, said Adams.

The report cited 2015 data showing four out of every nine adult cigarette smokers who saw a “health professional” in the past year weren’t given advice on quitting. Adams said he’s been to mental health and addiction clinics where clients smoked cigarettes openly.

“People don’t realize (quitting smoking) can help with mental health outcomes,” said Adams. “Whether you are 25, 55 or 85, there are still benefits to be gained.”

Is vaping safer than smoking? Depends who you ask, and what scientific study they point to

Even those who favor vaping as way to reduce the harm from cigarette smoking support much of the government’s new report on smoking.

David Abrams, a professor of social sciences in New York University’s school of public health, called it “well done and comprehensive with the data available when it was drafted.” But he noted there’s a “fast moving set of innovations” that deliver “much safer nicotine,” including Swedish Match’s new ZYN, which delivers nicotine in a pouch tucked inside the lip without the cancer causing chemicals in tobacco or inhalation. It has saved millions of Swedes lives over the last 40 years, Abrams added.

Abrams agrees with the report’s recommendation for more research to develop and better understand safe and effective stop-smoking methods that work for youth and adults, including those who vape nicotine.

“Much more resources, priority science and urgency is needed to find out how with whom and under what conditions we can use vapes to help any smokers at any age to switch if they are unable to or don’t want to stop using nicotine but don’t want to die,” said Abrams.

Dr. Harold Wimmer, president of the American Lung Association, applauded the report, adding laws and policies are needed “to prevent tobacco use and to ensure everyone has access to guidelines-based quit smoking treatments.”

‘Something has changed’: People have been vaping for years but now they’re dying. Could it be the devices?

Policies should include insurance coverage of quit-smoking treatments and sufficient funding for state prevention programs and hotlines to help people quit tobacco, he said.

“Today’s report underscores why it is so important to quit tobacco altogether and not switch to other tobacco products,” said Wimmer.

Cigarette smoking is at an all-time low, down to 14% of Americans, or about 34 million adults. Still it remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and death in the U.S.

New insights about the brightest explosions in the Universe

Swedish and Japanese researchers have, after ten years, found an explanation to the peculiar emission lines seen in one of the brightest supernovae ever observed—SN 2006gy. At the same time they found an explanation for how the supernova arose.

Superluminous supernovae are the most luminous explosions in the cosmos. SN 2006gy is one of the most studied such events, but researchers have been uncertain about its origin. Astrophysicists at Stockholm University have, together with Japanese colleagues, now discovered large amounts of iron in the supernova through spectral lines that have never previously been seen either in supernovae or in other astrophysical objects. That has led to a new explanation for how the supernova arose.

“No-one had tested to compare spectra from neutral iron, i.e. iron in which all electrons are retained, with the unidentified emission lines in SN 2006gy, because iron is normally ionized (one or more electrons removed). We tried it and saw with excitement how line after line lined up just as in the observed spectrum,” says Anders Jerkstrand, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University.

“It became even more exciting when it quickly turned out that very large amounts of iron were needed to make the lines—at least a third of the Sun’s mass—which directly ruled out some old scenarios and instead revealed a new one.”

The progenitor to SN 2006gy was, according to the new model, a double star consisting of a white dwarf of the same size as the Earth and a hydrogen-rich massive star as large as our solar system in close orbit. As the hydrogen rich star expanded its envelope, which happens when new fuel is ignited in the late stages of evolution, the white dwarf was caught in the envelope and spiralled in towards the centre of the companion. When it reached the centre the unstable white dwarf exploded and a so-called Type Ia supernova was born. This supernova then collided with the ejected envelope, which is flung out during the inspiral, and this gigantic collision gave rise to the light of SN 2006gy.

“That a Type Ia supernova appears to be behind SN 2006gy turns upside down what most researchers have believed,” says Anders Jerkstrand.

“That a white dwarf can be in close orbit with a massive hydrogen-rich star, and quickly explode upon falling to the centre, gives important new information for the theory of double star evolution and the conditions necessary for a white dwarf to explode.”

Intel reports robust sales growth, announces job cuts affecting hundreds

Intel shares climbed more than 5% in after-hours trading Thursday to the highest point in more than two decades after the chipmaker reported strong quarterly sales results and said it expects continued growth in 2020 and beyond.

At the same time, the company acknowledged it plans global reductions in its workforce. Intel said the cuts affect a relatively small portion of its workforce — fewer than 1%.

Intel employs nearly 111,000 workers globally — including roughly 20,000 in Oregon, the company’s largest site. So pending cuts could impact hundreds.

“Our ambitions have just never been greater,” CEO Bob Swan told investment analysts Thursday. “We realize it’s an increasingly competitive world and we feel like we’re well positioned to deal with it.”

The Oregonian/OregonLive and tech news sites reported over the past week that Intel plans broad – but not deep – layoffs across its business groups. Intel disclosed Thursday that its workforce had already been shrinking, declining by about 1,100 jobs in the last three months of 2019.

Intel didn’t explain the reason for those past reductions but said the additional cuts announced Thursday reflect the company’s changing business needs.

“Wherever possible, we’ve transitioned employees or teams within the company to areas of business need, and we expect this to impact less than 1% of our global workforce,” the chipmaker said in a written statement.

“We are committed to treating all impacted employees with professionalism and respect, and we continue to hire for critical skills, with more than 1300 positions open in our key locations in the US and globally,” Intel said.

The company gave no indication of what kinds of jobs it plans to cut and where it expects to grow.

Intel’s sales grew 8.3% in the last three months of 2019 and 1.6% for the entire year. The company had initially forecast a down year in 2019 but its outlook improved steadily as the year went on.

Sales totaled $72.0 billion for all of 2019, up 1.6%. Intel said it expects revenue of $73.5 billion in 2020 and issued a long-term forecast, indicating it expects annual sales around $85 billion by 2023.

Annual earnings were $21.0 billion last year, flat compared to 2018.

Fourth-quarter sales totaled $20.2 billion — including a nearly 18% jump in revenue in Intel’s highly profitable data center group.

“Intel had a great Q4 in spite of increased competition and supply challenges,” industry analyst Patrick Moorhead said in an email Thursday. He said Intel’s near term goal should be a smooth rollout of its next-generation 10-nanometer microprocessor, which has been delayed for years but began hitting the market late last year.

That long delay enabled Intel’s rivals to catch up, and perhaps surpass, Intel’s leading-edge technology. Swan said Thursday the Intel expects to return to a two-year cadence for introducing new chips and expects its forthcoming 7nm processors by the end of 2021.

Intel struggled throughout 2019 to deliver as many the chips as customers wanted, costing the company revenue and putting a ceiling on its clients’ own sales. Intel apologized for the shortages last year.

On Thursday, Swan told investment analysts that constraints remain, but he said the company intends to increase its production capacity by 25% this year and expects the shortages will end during 2020.

Earlier this week, industry research site Gartner said Intel has reclaimed its position as the world’s largest chipmaker. It’s a position Intel held for years but surrendered in 2017 amid slower sales growth and a sharp rise in demand for memory chips, a Samsung specialty.

That situation has reversed. Memory chip sales fell by an enormous 31.5% last year, according to Gartner. That stung Intel, which now has its own memory business, but the effect was much more significant at Samsung, which depends on memory chips for more than 80% of its revenue.

Intel’s shares climbed $3.38 to $66.70 Thursday afternoon in after-hours trading after Intel’s quarterly announcement. That is its highest point since the dot-com era.

Former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf barred from industry, to pay $17.5 million for sales scandal

The U.S. government announced Thursday that former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf has been banned from ever working at a bank again and will pay $17.5 million for scandals in which millions of fake accounts were set up to meet sales quotas.

The notice from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the regulator plans to target other individuals, including former executives, for their role in the scandals.

“The actions announced by the OCC today reinforce the agency’s expectations that management and employees of national banks and federal savings associations provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations,” Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said.

In addition to the $17.5 million fine, Stumpf’s settlement declares he shall not participate “in any manner” at any bank regulated by the OCC or participate or attempt to participate in a bank’s corporate board votes.

The OCC also said the former head of Wells Fargo’s Community Bank unit, Carrie Tolstedt, is still fighting the allegations against her. The regulator also seeks a prohibition order and $25 million from Tolstedt.

The nation’s fourth-largest bank, Wells Fargo has remained muddled in restructuring and regulatory reforms since 2016 stemming from the scandals at its consumer-facing community bank.

The fallout has had lasting consequences for the San-Francisco-based bank, once a rapidly growing lender with eye-popping profits. In recent years, however, Wells has stalled between stagnant revenues and an urgent need to cost cuts.

In light of the announcement, current Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf told the bank’s employees that “the OCC’s actions are consistent with my belief that we should hold ourselves and individuals accountable.”

“They also are consistent with our belief that significant parts of the operating model of our Community Bank were flawed,” he added. “At the time of the sales practices issues, the Company did not have in place the appropriate people, structure, processes, controls, or culture to prevent the inappropriate conduct.”

Scharf added that “Wells Fargo will not make any remaining compensation payments that may be owed to these individuals while we review the filings.”

Boeing wants to resume 737 Max production months before the planes return to service

Boeing’s new CEO, Dave Calhoun, said Wednesday that he wants the company to resume production of the 737 Max months before regulators sign off on the planes and airlines prepare to return them to service.

Boeing suspended production of the planes this month because a worldwide grounding of the jetliners after two fatal crashes lasted months longer than expected. Boeing shares fell more than 3% on Tuesday after the company pushed back its estimate of when regulators would sign off on the planes by months to the middle of 2020.

The 737 Max production shutdown has already cost thousands of jobs and raised concerns about the crisis’ impact on the broader economy.

But Calhoun’s comments indicate the company does not expect the production pause to last more than a few months.

“We got to get that line started up again,” he said on a conference call with reporters. “And the supply chain will be reinvigorated even before that.”

Boeing shares fell 1.4% Wednesday, bringing their weekly losses to nearly 5%.

The 737 Max crisis has rippled through Boeing’s supply chain, which includes General Electric and Spirit AeroSystems. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier this month estimated that the issues stemming from the plane’s grounding could shave half a percentage point off U.S. economic growth this year.

Wichita, Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems on Jan. 10 announced it would cut an initial 2,800 jobs because of the Max grounding.

Calhoun said Wednesday that Boeing is not planning to lay off or furlough any of its employees because of the production pause, even with Boeing’s new estimate that regulators will approve the planes again midyear.

Calhoun, a decadelong Boeing board member who took the helm of the manufacturer last week, is tasked with steadying the company, shaken by the 737 Max upheaval.

Internal emails that were recently made public revealed employees boasted about bullying regulators into accepting less time-consuming pilot training before officials allowed Boeing to deliver the planes to airlines. In other messages, Boeing employees expressed safety concerns about the plane. In the wide-ranging call with reporters, Calhoun said he intended to improve the company’s culture and lift employee morale.

A flight-control system Boeing included in the jets was implicated in the two Max crashes — a Lion Air flight in October 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines flight less than five months later — which killed all 346 people on board. Boeing is now scrambling to get regulators to sign off on changes to that software and other fixes to the plane.

The Federal Aviation Administration has said several times that it doesn’t have a firm timeline to recertify the planes.

Here’s how the Saudis allegedly hacked Jeff Bezos’ phone, and how to protect yourself

Today, the U.N. called for an investigation into allegations that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia personally facilitated a hack on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ mobile phone.

The report, which is based on research Bezos commissioned, alleges that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have personally been involved in a complex hacking campaign against Bezos, which started with a friendly dinner and exchange of phone numbers between the two in 2018.

The report shows how outsiders can monitor seemingly private phone messages. However, while tools like those described in the report exist, they are costly and rarely used against normal citizens. Moreover, it’s worth keeping in mind that Bezos himself commissioned the report and there may be alternative explanations for how information about his personal life leaked.

What happened?

According to the allegations, Bezos’ phone was hacked using malicious software delivered in a WhatsApp message that came directly from Crown Prince Mohammed’s phone in November 2018. The two of them had met and exchanged phone numbers in the spring of that year.

In November of 2018, Bezos allegedly received a text from Crown Prince Mohammed’s WhatsApp number again, this time with a picture of a woman resembling Sanchez “months before the Bezos affair was known publicly,” according to the report. Bezos would later preempt a National Enquirer story on the affair in a post on Medium, which also was the first time he mentioned a possible connection between the hack and Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis apparently targeted Bezos because he owns TheWashington Post, which published work from Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident. Saudi agents murdered Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 at the direction of the crown prince, according to the CIA. After initial denials, the Saudis have acknowledged the murder and sentenced several people to death for it, but denied that Crown Prince Mohammed knew about it.

The report says the hack used the software of an Israeli company called NSO Group, which sells a software platform known as Pegasus. This platform allows governments to access internet-connected devices.

The company says it only sells its products to government agencies pursuing information from the devices of criminals and terrorists. Human rights activists, however, have said the software is used much more widely and to target attorneys, journalists and dissidents who oppose various governments that have contracted with NSO Group, an allegation put forth in the report today.

NSO Group has denied its software was involved.

“As we stated unequivocally in April 2019 to the same false assertion, our technology was not used in this instance. We know this because of how our software works and our technology cannot be used on U.S. phone numbers. Our products are only used to investigate terror and serious crime. Any suggestion that NSO is involved is defamatory and the company will take legal counsel to address this.”

Saudi Arabia has called the allegations “absurd” and has also characterized the killing of Khashoggi as a “rogue operation.”

Recent media reports that suggest the Kingdom is behind a hacking of Mr. Jeff Bezos’ phone are absurd. We call for an investigation on these claims so that we can have all the facts out.

Not a worry for most of us

NSO Group isn’t the only company that makes this type of software. There are numerous other companies that have used differing versions of malicious code, delivered via text or call. These programs let outsiders compromise mobile devices by sending errant information through loopholes in these communication programs.

In some cases, respondents don’t even need to answer the call or text in order for the phone to be compromised. Once the phone is compromised, the attackers can download a wide array of information from it. This seems to be what happened in the case of Bezos’ phone, as subsequent messages suggested that Crown Prince Mohammed was aware of Bezos’ affair and impending divorce, according to the U.N. report.

While real, these types of hacks are exceedingly rare. The software required to carry them out is extremely costly, and companies such as Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, and Apple are usually quick to patch the holes that these programs exploit.

These types of hacks have targeted attorneys and other professionals representing controversial figures, however. Anyone in a position connected to politically controversial figures — including bankers, accountants, political advisors, speechwriters and so on — should be concerned about having their communications monitored in this way.

If you’re in this boat, make sure you routinely update your phone and all its software, especially with all security-related updates, and consider consulting with a cybersecurity expert who can help you tailor a security plan. Share your phone number very selectively only with people who absolutely need it, and consider conducting private or sensitive business on a device that’s separate from your day-to-day phone.

But for most of us, these types of hacks are a very remote concern and easily remedied by updating messaging software on a regular schedule.

Skepticism warranted

It’s worth keeping in mind that the report may not tell the whole story.

While sophisticated tools and hacking methods like those described in the U.N.’s letter today do exist, so do programs that can spoof phone numbers and device ownership, as well as a wide range of programs that can make it appear quite convincingly that information is being sent from an individual’s device or location when it is not.

There are other possible alternative explanations for what happened. Some other entity could have spoofed Crown Prince Mohammed’s credentials, or Bezos’ information could have leaked in more ways than a single hack. For instance, The Wall Street Journal reported last March that Sanchez’s brother sent incriminating pictures from her phone to the National Enquirer.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that Bezos commissioned the investigation. The report spins a very complex story of a vast technological conspiracy against him and bolsters previous claims of Saudi involvement from an investigator he hired, Gavin de Becker. An investigation independent of either Bezos or the Saudis, which the U.N. has called for, would hopefully include a completely objective view of the timeline and facts presented in today’s report.

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