That is why it is important for advisors to also understand how Alzheimer's can take a toll on families affected by the disease and know how to design and implement financial strategies to protect a client's interests.

Its signature mark—memory loss—is distressing. However, it also impedes one's ability to make financial decisions, making it pertinent for at-risk investors to lay out health care and financial plans long before the disease takes its toll.

(Read more: Money matters: A road map for Alzheimer's patients)

"Family members are already on emotional overload—adding a financial and legal decision aspect to what they're already going through is enormous," said Carol Steinberg, president of Alzheimer's Foundation of America, a national nonprofit focused on the care and needs of people with the disease. "Therefore, the more decisions made earlier on and with the input of the loved one, the easier it is."

Financial planning, of course, can help. Financial experts urge families affected by Alzheimer's to complete a will. That means a living will and durable powers of attorney for health care and finance.

They also stress discussing insurance options for the financial consequences of the disease. That should include long-term-care insurance, annuities and life insurance with riders that provide a benefit if chronic care is needed.

While it makes sense for individuals with a history of dementia in their family to have more of a reason to line things up while the person still has full cognitive ability, these basic steps (wills and insurance options) are things most people should already have in place, financial experts say.

"Fifty percent of people who come to us don't have their wills done," said Holly Kylen, a retirement coach and an independent financial advisor with ING Financial Partners.

Along with a will, advisors urge investors to review all estate planning documents (like a living trust) and name a durable power of attorney, the person who will make financial decisions when the person with Alzheimer's no longer can handle making those decisions.

(Read more: Alzheimer's disease and health-care costs)

"In many respects, financial planning should take place before a disease is diagnosed," Steinberg said. "No one has a crystal ball, but it's good to be prepared for whatever chronic disease may be in your future."

Many financial advisors recommend appointing a close family member—usually a spouse—as a power of attorney. It should be someone whose relationship with the person with Alzheimer's has a trusted relationship.

But in the fraught case of dealing with the end-of-life decisions brought about by Alzheimer's, some experts say a family is better off to appoint a third-party who doesn't have an emotional attachment to the investor—or his or her assets.

"I've (seen) parents who don't trust their kids at all," said Christopher Dukes, a certified financial planner and chief executive officer of Dukes Wealth Management. "That's when I'll tell them to consider someone they're not related and to whom they're not leaving any money."

There's likely a cost associated with working with an outsider, but it's worth the investment because in some cases family arguments and lawsuits can destroy an estate, Dukes said.

(Read more: Do you need a retirement coach?)

While some investors may already be using an estate planning attorney to draft a will or a living trust, financial experts believe it makes sense to work with someone well versed in elder care law.

For instance, an elder care attorney, working in tandem with a financial advisor, can help older individuals who are looking to purchase long-term care insurance. They can also help with health-care directives and creating living wills.

Financial advisors also stress that families affected by Alzheimer's need to keep the lines of communication open.

When the condition of a client diagnosed with Alzheimer's began to worsen, Shomari Hearn, vice president of Palisades Hudson Financial Group, asked the client's wife (who was the power of attorney) to sit in on their meetings so she could become familiar with the decisions she would one day have to make.

(Read more: The race for next-generation of Alzheimer's drugs)

Hearn also documented and summarized the conversations to make sure the spouse had important information handy after her husband no longer had the capacity to make the financial decisions.

Most people want to talk about these issues, advisors admit. But because so many people with Alzheimer's cannot communicate in the last few years of their life, it is vital and makes sense to create a good planning strategy to have those types of conversations up front, financial experts say.

—By Maggie Overfelt, Special to CNBC.com.

Summary: When a family member is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it’s important to consider financial, health and legal options.


Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle

LB Wilhoite signs one-year deal to stay with 49ers

Niners inside linebacker Michael Wilhoite, a restricted free agent, has signed his one-year qualifying offer from the team and will aim to assume a starting role for the third straight season.

The move wasn’t a surprise: Wilhoite was participating in the offseason program before signing the deal.

Wilhoite, 29, had 85 tackles and one interception in 12 starts last year before he was sidelined with a season-ending ankle injury.

Last year, Wilhoite replaced retired Patrick Willis and played alongside NaVorro Bowman. In 2014, when Bowman was sidelined with a knee injury, Wilhoite replaced him and had 87 tackles and two interceptions.

In 2016, Wilhoite figures to compete with Gerald Hodges for a starting role. In October, the 49ers traded a sixth-round pick and center Nick Easton to the Vikings for Hodges, who had 39 tackles in four starts after Wilhoite was injured. Hodges is in the final year of his contract.

The 49ers did not select an inside linebacker any of their 11 draft picks. On Saturday, general manager Trent Baalke was asked why he didn’t address the position, which was weakened when Willis and Chris Borland retired last year.

“Who said it was the top need on the team?” Baalke said. “I would respectfully disagree, but we feel good about that group. We really do. We weren’t in a position at any point where we felt the player available was that guy. We feel real good about that room. We really do. We’re going to plug away.”

Summary: Niners inside linebacker Michael Wilhoite, a restricted free agent, has signed his one-year qualifying offer from the team and will aim to assume a starting role for the third straight season.  Wilhoite, 29, had 85 tackles and one interception in 12 starts last year before he was sidelined with a season-ending ankle injury.  In 2014, when Bowman was sidelined with a knee injury, Wilhoite replaced him and had 87 tackles and two interceptions.  In October, the 49ers traded a sixth-round pick and center Nick Easton to the Vikings for Hodges, who had 39 tackles in four starts after Wilhoite was injured.  The 49ers did not select an inside linebacker any of their 11 draft picks.


Charter Communications is nearing an agreement with banks to raise funds for a bid for Time Warner Cable, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Charter has held talks with banks including Bank of America, Barclays and Deutsche Bank regarding a multibillion-dollar debt package that would underpin an offer for Time Warner Cable, the newspaper reported.

Charter could also receive cash from sovereign wealth funds and wealthy individuals for the bid, the Journal said.

Charter Communications and Time Warner were not immediately available for comment. Representatives for Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Barclays could not be immediately reached for comment.

It isn't immediately clear which banks might participate in the potential debt package or how much Charter would get from lenders, the Journal said.

There is also no guarantee that a Charter bid for Time Warner Cable will ultimately materialize, the newspaper reported.

Earlier this month Reuters reported that Charter was weighing a bid for Time Warner Cable before the end of the year, hoping to persuade the larger cable operator to sell after rejecting an earlier overture.

Summary: Charter Communications is nearing an agreement with banks to raise funds for a bid for Time Warner Cable, according to a report.


05/16/2016 AT 11:20 AM EDT

is helping America's women – in more ways than one.

During her Monday appearance on

coach jokes of a 2012 photo where Clinton appeared to look at her cleavage, "She was staring at my bosoms."

of the image, taken at the McGovern Awards, where the singer was honored for her work as a U.N. World Food Programme Ambassador. "It's awesome."

Christina Aguilera (left) and Hillary Clinton

Paul J. Richards / AFP / Getty

Aguilera continues, "She supports the girls ... They need support."

for Clinton last fall at her Beverly Hills home, calling the former Secretary of State, "a tireless advocate for everyday Americans and their families."

A source told PEOPLE at the time, "When Hillary announced she was running, Christina and her immediately connected. Christina has been outspoken about having strong female role models and she feels Hillary is just that – fearless and a fighter."

On Monday, Aguilera says of the

, "she's amazing," teasing, "The girls are covered up. It's serious business now."

Aguilera also plays a musical game of DeGeneres' app Heads Up, singing in character as everyone from

impression, performing a version of the singer's hit "Work."

Summary: Christina Aguilera appears on Ellen Monday


SWIFT, the global financial network that banks use to transfer billions of dollars every day, warned its customers on Monday that it was aware of “a number of recent cyber incidents” where attackers had sent fraudulent messages over its system.

The disclosure came as law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh and elsewhere continued to investigate the February cyber theft of $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. SWIFT has acknowledged that the scheme involved altering SWIFT software on the bank’s computers to hide evidence of fraudulent transfers.

“SWIFT is aware of a number of recent cyber incidents in which malicious insiders or external attackers have managed to submit SWIFT messages from financial institutions’ back-offices, PCs or workstations connected to their local interface to the SWIFT network,” the group warned customers on Monday in a notice seen by Reuters.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

The warning, which SWIFT issued in a confidential alert sent over its network on Monday, did not name any victims or disclose the value of any losses from the previously undisclosed attacks. SWIFT confirmed to Reuters the authenticity of the notice.

Also on Monday, SWIFT released a security update to the software that banks use to access its network.

SWIFT issued that update to thwart malware that security researchers with British defense contractor BAE Systems said was probably used by hackers in the Bangladesh Bank heist.

BAE’s evidence suggested that hackers manipulated SWIFT’s Alliance Access server software, which banks use to interface with SWIFT’s messaging platform, to cover their tracks.

Bank Hackers Steal an Estimated $300 Million

BAE said it could not explain how the fraudulent orders were created and pushed through the system.

But SWIFT provided some evidence about how that happened in its note to customers, saying that in most cases the modus operandi was similar.

It said the attackers obtained valid credentials for operators authorized to create and approve SWIFT messages, then submitted fraudulent messages by impersonating those people.

SWIFT to Advise Banks on Security as Bangladesh Hack Details Emerge

SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a cooperative owned by 3,000 financial institutions. Its messaging platform is used by 11,000 banks and other institutions around the world and is considered a linchpin of the global financial system.

SWIFT spokeswoman Natasha Deteran told Reuters that the commonality in these cases was that internal or external attackers compromised the banks’ own environments to obtain valid operator credentials.

“Customers should do their utmost to protect against this,” she said in an email to Reuters.

SWIFT told customers that the security update must be installed by May 12.

“We have made the Alliance interface software update mandatory as it is designed to help banks identify situations in which attackers have attempted to hide their traces—whether these actions have been executed manually or through malware,” she said.

Summary: The malware was probably used by hackers in the Bangladesh Bank heist.


Scarlett Johansson says Dylan Farrow was "irresponsible" in naming her in an open letter that slammed the film industry for its silence over claims she was sexually abused by Woody Allen.

The Hollywood actress criticized Allen's estranged adoptive daughter, who is now 28, for implicating her and a host of other A-list actors in a case she said they "know nothing about."

In Farrow's note, published in The New York Times last month, she accused the director of abusing her when she was 7 years old.

She also condemned the entire film industry for what she claimed was its silence on the matter.

But Johansson, who's starred in three of Allen's movies, told The Guardian it was "irresponsible" of Farrow to name and shame actors who know nothing about the case.

"I think it's irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation none of us could possibly knowingly comment on."

"That just feels irresponsible to me," she added.

Asked whether her opinion of Allen, 78, had changed since the emergence of the allegations, the 29-year-old actress said: "I don't know anything about it."

"It would be ridiculous for me to make any kind of assumption one way or the other," she added.

And, when questioned whether there had been a backlash against Allen, who directed her in "Scoop," "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and "Match Point," she replied: "I'm unaware that's there's been a backlash."

"I think he'll continue to know what he knows about the situation, and I'm sure the other people involved have their own experience with it."

"It's not like this is somebody that's been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, 'I don't support this lifestyle or whatever.' I mean, it's all guesswork," she told the British newspaper.

Farrow's letter to The New York Times said that: "(W)hen I was 7 years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house."

"He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother's electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me," she added.

Allen has denied the allegations, with his lawyer Elkan Abramowitz claiming that they are the result of "implanted" memories and not actual reality.

"She was a pawn in a huge fight between him and Mia Farrow years ago, and the idea that she was molested was implanted in her by her mother. And that memory is never going to go away," he told The Today show.


Amazon.com unveiled its latest innovation Tuesday — a tiny device that allows you to order household items at the touch of a button.

The Dash Button is a Wi-Fi enabled plastic controller that connects to a customer’s smartphone through the Amazon app. The buttons can be stuck or hung anywhere around the house — like on your washing machine, say. If you run out of detergent, you just push the button and an order is automatically sent to Amazon for that particular product.

More than a dozen brands — listing about 255 of the kind of bulky products you need to replenish often — are available to order through the Dash Button program.

The device allows users to cancel their order within 30 minutes, and the order will only process once, so you won’t end up with tons of detergent being delivered to your door.

The timing of Amazon’s announcement has got many people wondering if it’s a prank for April Fool’s Day. Others see the timing as a stroke of marketing genius, because while people are trying to decide if it’s a hoax they are also doing precisely what Amazon wants them to do — which is talk about Dash and share the news.

Amazon spokesperson Kinley Pearsall confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the Dash Button is indeed real, although for now the service is only available to Amazon Prime customers by invitation only.

Read next: 7 Things You Probably Had No Idea Amazon Sold

Listen to the most important stories of the day.

Summary: And no, the Dash Button is not an April Fool's Day prank


Most people who choose bottled water over tap do so because they prefer the taste, and they pick their brands on the basis of taste and budget. However, different springs may bring different health benefits – though admittedly these are likely to be small.

"Generally, mineral water is no better for you than tap water, but if you have a low dietary intake of certain minerals, drinking a water with high levels would be helpful," says GP Amanda Kirby, a member of the Expert Group on Hydration. "However, waters with high mineral levels tend to have a strong taste which some people do not like, and the important thing is that people should be encouraged to drink."

Babies and small children, whose kidneys are not fully developed, should only be given still bottled waters with a low mineral content, which should be boiled for drinking by infants of six months and under.

Sparkling water gained a bad reputation a few years back when it was said to increase cellulite, and leach minerals – especially calcium – from the bones. Neither rumour turned out to be true. "Some people with digestive problems find fizzy water helpful, but others say it makes them feel bloated," says Jo Jacobius of the Natural Mineral Water Information Service.

"When carbonated drinks are consumed, the carbon dioxide gas is released and can act to fill the stomach, which in turn sends signals to the brain indicating that the stomach is full. For this reason, some professional slimmers, including jockeys, find sparkling water of help in their diet plan." If you are trying to keep yourself hydrated – in a hot climate or during a plane journey – stick to still water, which is easier to drink in large quantities.

Those who prefer tap water have no choice about their beverage, but may like to know what is in it. The high mineral hard water areas tend to be in the South and East of England, while Wales, the South-West, the North and North-West have soft water. This may affect more than the taste, the state of your kettle and how much soap you need to make a lather.

According to the researchers from Geographical Survey of Finland, men who have had a heart attack are less likely to have another if they live in a hard water area. Researchers studied measurements of calcium, magnesium, fluoride, iron, copper, zinc, nitrate and aluminium. Fluoride levels appeared to be very protective, but iron and copper had the opposite effect.

According to nutritionist Fiona Hunter, "waters with a high calcium content do contribute to calcium intake, which can be important for people who do not eat dairy products".

This could be significant in a soft-water area with little calcium in the tap water. In such areas, drinking two litres of tap water a day might give you just 30mg of calcium (the recommended daily allowance is 800mg): by contrast, the same consumption in a hard-water area could give you 240mg. High- calcium mineral waters include Badoit (190mg per litre), Perrier (150mg), Ashe Park (122mg) and Vittel (91mg).

This mineral is also important for bones and teeth, as well as heart and cellular health. Researchers at Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands found that magnesium was more readily absorbed through water than from foods. Tap-water magnesium levels are generally low. The highest bottled-water magnesium levels are found in Badoit (85mg), Abbey Well (36mg) and Vittel (20mg).

Those on low-sodium diets should read mineral-water labels carefully. Badoit (150mg) and Abbey Well (45mg) have relatively high sodium levels, while those with low levels include Spa Reine (3mg), Evian (5mg) and Brecon Carreg and Highland Spring (both 6mg).

According to research at the Free University of Berlin, mineral water low in salt but rich in sodium bicarbonate helped lower blood pressure in older people. Of the very low-salt waters, Evian and Highland Spring have the highest bicarbonate levels.

Summary: It has come a long way - sometimes as far as the Pacific - but mineral water may be no healthier than tap, writes Barbara Lantin.


Parenthood will come to a tearful end on Jan. 29 after six emotional seasons on NBC. The show has been the work of a large ensemble, but it’s hard not to pinpoint Lauren Graham’s efforts as a standout. Graham joined the cast as single mom Sarah Braverman in 2010 after the show had already been picked up by the network and found a way to bring a positive spin to the character’s ongoing trials and tribulations. The actress wrapped Gilmore Girls in 2007, a series that remains her most iconic work, and appeared in movies like Evan Almighty and Because I Said So in the interim.

As Parenthood draws to a close, with its final episodes kicking off Jan. 8, Graham is looking forward to taking time off before beginning a new series. She co-wrote the new endeavor, Kate On Later, with Liz Tuccillo, a comedy that will center on the world of late-night network television talk shows. We visited Graham on the set of Parenthood during one of its final episodes to discuss what it means for this show to find its ending and what it’s meant for Graham as an actress, as well as what she thinks of Gilmore Girls all these years later.

TIME: How do you feel about Parenthood coming to an end?

Lauren Graham: It’s very strange. It’s like any big life moment – it’s hard to feel it all. We had our celebration for the 100th episode recently and Ron Howard was there, which is the second time I’ve ever seen him so you know it was a big day. That felt like something. It’s nice that we know it’s the end so we can treasure these last days. Gilmore Girls was just yanked away. I got a phone call when I was sitting in a restaurant. The guy came over and was like, “Excuse me, are you Lauren Graham? Your agent is on the phone.” My agent said, “It’s over.” I didn’t get to say goodbye to anybody. It was a very abrupt end, so this is preferable.

You get to actually wrap up the story.

Yeah, exactly. With Gilmore Girls we did an episode that could be the end, but that’s not how you want to say goodbye to characters you’ve lived with for such a long time. Hopefully this will be satisfying for people.

MORE: TIME’s Review of Parenthood Premiere

This show has now been an integral part of your daily life for six seasons. What is it like to not have that anymore?

That’s the life of an actor. You have these connections and then it’s goodbye. It’s unrealistic to take all of them with you. This is unique in that there are a number of people who I don’t even think of as part of the show. They’re just part of my life. It eases the transition, I guess. There are people I know I will see. But it’s also exciting. Part of the actor thing too is that you play pretend at something for a while and then you get to tell a new story. Beside the panic of never working again, the excitement of the possibilities is great, too.

Maura Tierney was originally cast as Sarah Braverman, but had to drop out of the role to focus on treatment for breast cancer. You’re now very strongly identified with the character, but is it strange that you were never meant to be her?

It was painful. It was a hard thing to be excited about a new job but also be asked about someone’s personal life, which I never comment on. It was unusual. But I just felt fortunate to have an opportunity to play this character. I didn’t know what I wanted to do [after Gilmore Girls] and some of the stuff I tried didn’t work. Honestly, Parenthood was not what I planned. I didn’t plan to do another drama. I didn’t plan to play a single mom. I didn’t plan, even, to do an ensemble show. But I hadn’t found anything I liked as much. I just connected to the show. But that’s the funny thing about this business, you have to make a plan and then be open to it not working out.

What do you like about Sarah as a character?

At times, it’s been frustrating. I was drawn to her because she’s an opposite to what I’d done on TV before. It appealed to my dramatic actor part of me. Where Lorelei Gilmore had a positive spin on everything, this was someone who felt tired and had really struggled. That was appealing to me having done something that was peppy and heroic. But I would rail against that. I didn’t want her to struggle anymore. I would get frustrated on the character’s behalf. Over the years, I tried to bring her into a more positive place and really develop the relationships with the kids.

She’s doing better this season, especially in her romantic relationships, which have been frustrating to watch her struggle with over the past seasons.

Yeah. That’s something I’ve railed against, too. In a way, of course, everyone is looking for love, but I didn’t want her to be defined by whether she’s happy with a man. I did have quite a parade of different guest actors I got to play with on the show. I think there will be resolution in that, finally.

Do you feel satisfied with the ending Sarah gets on the show?

I think it’s satisfying, but I think it’s a little polarizing. There are people who have liked her with different guys. But this makes sense. The other side of getting to do an ending is that everyone has an opinion about what it should be, including myself and the writers and the other actors. It’s raised the anxiety. As nice as it will be to have an ending, it’s also very personal.

MORE: Comedy Show Starring Lauren Graham in the Works

Is there one scene over the course of the series that was the most memorable to shoot?

They sort of all blur. I love the dynamic with the kids. We were all talking about a scene the other day where I’m trying to tell them about drugs and alcohol and the evils and they’re making fun of me behind my back. We had a great time in the car doing that. In another, partially because Peter [Krause] directed the episode, we’re looking through Jason Ritter’s yearbook and Peter had the idea to put him in a dorky wrestling outfit. We laughed and laughed. Everybody contributes on this show and some of those little innovations have made things special. I always like all the family scenes, too, which is every director’s nightmare because you can’t get anybody to shut up.

Parenthood is notorious for making everyone cry every week, often because the actors are put in such emotional circumstances. How difficult is it to channel that?

It’s completely unbelievable to me that the show – or myself – is known for that because I went through most of drama school never crying. I always saw myself as a comedic actor and wacky best friend. I never imagined I would be in this situation. Part of it is the show does it to you. In the beginning I worried it was too much, like, “Do people cry this much in their real lives?” But the emotional charge of these scenes is actually so high that I’m not trying to cry. In fact this season and last season, I’m trying not to be emotional because I don’t want to be manipulative if it’s not truthful and doesn’t belong. But I do appreciate that it’s something to look forward. I feel the fans have embraced that as “Here’s my hour where I can identify with these people, but it’s not me so I can enjoy crying or enjoy having an emotional release.” That’s our jobs as storytellers, to make a connection. I’m proud of that. It’s become like a club.

Do you still see yourself as a comedic actress?

I do, yeah. That’s just the way I come in to most things, with “What’s funny about this?” If I make additions or changes to scenes, that’s what it is. I’m trying to lighten it. That’s why I think Lorelei was such a fun character for me, because that athletic language and take on things is what I like. But now I will do a half-hour comedy show.

What do you hope Parenthood’s legacy will be in television and pop culture?

This show is about all the iconic moments of life – birth, death, marriage, conflict, loss, hope, joy. In each of these characters we have some moments that most people – or many people – go through in life. Here are all the things that life might bring and here are some people either succeeding or failing. I don’t know why shows about that are so few and far between. It takes a unique combination to just make stories about people interesting enough, with no crimes to solve or law cases. It’s relatable. It’s a show about family.

There truly are not a lot of shows on TV right now that are this sincere.

There’s so much more out there so how do you get someone’s attention? You can do it by plot twists and turns, or elements of magic, or giant worlds like Game of Thrones. So the competition for attention is huge. Everybody wants noisy. And that’s not what I want. Shows like this are hard to sell. They trusted [creator] Jason [Katims] because he had done that on a successful, popular show like Friday Night Lights, which was basically about people’s lives.

Gilmore Girls, which was also notably sincere, recently came out on Netflix. Have you paid attention to the massive response that’s gotten?

Yeah! It’s so gratifying. We didn’t have that streaming then. I knew things live on in reruns, but even that was sort of a shock when younger girls would talk about it and had found it. It’s like 150 episodes of a show that’s basically happy, warm-hearted and a fun world, in this world of zombies and vampires and really gruesome shows, to binge-watch. There’s a nostalgia for spending time in a happier, kinder land.

MORE: All 153 Episodes of Gilmore Girls Are Coming to Netflix

Do you look back on Gilmore Girls as something that defined you as an actress?

Yeah and happily so. I didn’t realize then how perfect a fit that was for me in terms of material and sensibility. As much as I have loved this job and this character [on Parenthood], I feel like Gilmore Girls was just a special match. It’s hard to find a writer with that specific of a voice. I’m super thankful to have had it.

How much are you like Lorelei as a person?

No one talks that much or that long, but it’s that thing where you read something and it just clicks. It’s like music. I could hear what [creator] Amy [Sherman-Palladino] intended and it made complete sense to me. I remember an interview with Christopher Reeve where he said, “I choose my jobs based on the feeling that I can’t stand the thought of anyone else doing it.” And that’s how I felt with that. It’s a rare chemistry.

There’s still a debate over which boyfriend Rory should have ended up with. Do you have a favorite Rory boyfriend?

Well, no, of course not because my career would end. I always loved Jared Padalecki as Dean because it was those early years and they were so sweet together and it was first love. But I loved Milo [Ventimiglia] and Matt [Czuchry], too. Both as people and as good matches in their characters for her. But I can’t pick one or it would be every headline on the Internet.

You published a novel, Someday, Someday, Maybe, last year. Are you continuing to write fiction?

I’m working on a second book, that’s like a sequel that takes place in LA. The character has her first TV series. What I’m going for in that book is everything that happens before you’re truly famous. I’m so much more interested in those steps and missteps that go into that. I like the idea of her being in her first series, but still nobody knows who she is. What I remember about coming to LA is that suddenly work was as big a presence in my life as my life itself. My work took up all this time and space and it shifts your relationship. I always think, “How did I have the guts to keep going and have this job?”

How soon will that book come out?

Well, it supposed to be out late spring or early summer. I’m not finished. My editor is having heart attacks.

What do you think has given you the confidence and the courage to continue to pursue acting no matter what?

I love doing it so much that I was fighting for the chance to do it for the living. There’s a voice that overpowers the one that says “You can’t do this.” If something didn’t work, I would get a new teacher or take another class or take another turn. Every roadblock I would try to find a way around. But it was hard. Things just came together in the way they sometimes do when I came out to LA. It started being easier. I got enough practice and confidence that it became easier. I don’t know how people do it now. We didn’t have all these things, like American Idol, that make fame look like the prize. I didn’t ever think about becoming known. I’m so thankful not to have had because it kept me focused on “What am working at?” not the exterior of “How does it look and what am I getting?”

Do you feel good about where you are now?

The nature of this work is that there’s always something new to learn and more to grow. I think there’s a fear of being satisfied. And I am satisfied, but I have so much more I want to do.

Read next: Comedy Show Starring Lauren Graham in the Works

Listen to the most important stories of the day.

Summary: The actress talks about her new project and the long life of 'Gilmore Girls'


The answer is maybe -- but they can't do anything that you couldn't do yourself, for free.

Anything on your report that's bringing down your credit score is going to stay on, if it's accurate information.

So if a credit repair company promises to remove negative information such as a bankruptcy or judgment, and they want money up front to do it -- run. Credit experts say that only time, effort and a solid plan for repaying your debts will improve your credit-worthiness.

There are plenty of unsavory operators out there, so be careful. Many consumers have lost hundreds if not thousands of dollars to scammers who take their money and do nothing to improve their credit. Here are some warning signs, according to the Federal Trade Commission:

The company wants you to pay up front for credit repair service before they do any work.

They do not disclose your legal rights.

They recommend that you don't contact the credit bureau directly.

They advise you to take action that seems illegal, such as creating a new credit identity or disputing all the information in your credit report, even info that is correct. (You can be charged with mail or wire fraud if you apply for credit and give false information.)

Under the federal Credit Repair Organizations Act, credit repair companies need to provide a detailed written contract about the services they'll perform, include a three-day right to cancel without charge, state how long it will take to see results, disclose the total cost to you and outline any guarantees. It's illegal for them to charge you up front.

Before you hire anyone, remember this: The sad truth is that accurate negative information stays on your report for seven years. Bankruptcies are reported for 10 years. Criminal info can stay on forever.

No credit repair company can get rid of that.

If there's incorrect information on your report, however, that's another story – and you can fix that yourself. All consumers are entitled to a free copy of their reports with the three major credit reporting bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) every 12 months at www.annualcreditreport.com. And if you've been denied credit, insurance or employment due to a lousy credit report within the last 30 days, you also are entitled to a free copy of your report.

Look for mistakes or outdated items. You can dispute these for free through the credit reporting bureaus. Explain why you're disputing it, provide copies of documents and request an investigation. Tip: Include a copy of the credit report with the questionable items circled. Send it by certified mail, return receipt requested. The credit reporting bureau must investigate within 30 days. You also should contact the company that provided the inaccurate information so they can correct it.

If you win your dispute, the credit reporting bureau will have to correct your report. You may also request that they send the corrected version to anyone who received your report in the past six months (or two years for reports that went to prospective employers).

If you don't win, you can ask that your report includes a statement with your version of the dispute.

Whatever the state of your credit report, don't lose heart. Some creditors are willing to look at your more recent credit history, so as long as you keep showing improvement, a past problem might not set you back. If you're still struggling, consider using a non-profit credit counseling service to get back on track. If you go this route, ask your local consumer agency, financial institution, military base or other trusted source for a recommendation, or check out the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, www.nfcc.org, the country's largest non-profit credit counseling service, with 90 member agencies nationwide.

(Sources: Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Illinois Attorney General, Experian)

Click Here for the ABC News Fixer Homepage.


Filing for unemployment benefits can be tricky. If you're lucky and haven't lost your job before, it can be a difficult process to wade through the red tape. Some states, such as California, at least try to make it easy with various ways to file.

But there's one area of the claim form that you don't want to mess up when filing, even though your head is probably still spinning from losing your job -- the reason for losing your job. You want to tell the truth, and there are some "magic words," or keywords, to use so that an unemployment benefits claim isn't quickly rejected.

Remember that each state sets its own laws on such things, so these suggested terms may not work everywhere.

If you lost your job through no fault of your own because the company is downsizing, then this is the term to use. Even if you accepted a buyout so that you wouldn't be laid off, it's still technically a layoff and you're entitled to unemployment benefits.

This is basically the same as a layoff, and puts the burden of proof on the employer. Go with what you were told by your employer when you lost your job, said Jill Pugh, an employment law attorney in Seattle.

If you were fired but tell the unemployment department that you were laid off, you could be accused of fraud, which could result in penalties beyond paying back any unemployment benefits you've collected, Pugh said. Penalties could include being disqualified for future benefits the next time you apply, to a higher interest rate when paying back owed benefits.

This again shows that the job loss was out of your control and that the company chose to let you go as it restructured its workforce. Saying that you got a buyout may not be the best way to word it, because some states consider that leaving your job at your choice, although most states allow workers who accept buyouts to collect unemployment if they were in fact laid off.

The ultimate test, Pugh said, is that a worker lost their job through no fault of their own. If so, they should get benefits. Employees can be fired and still collect benefits if they couldn't do the job and it wasn't their fault, Pugh said. Being unable to work a computer program, for example, could lead to being fired. But because the employee didn't do it willfully, they can still get benefits.

This puts the emphasis on the job itself instead of the person who lost their job.

This term replaces using "quit," which should be avoided, Pugh said. Using "quit" implies it was your choice. If you had good reason to quit, then you can collect unemployment. Good causes include taking a big pay cut of 25 percent, unsafe workplace, illegal behavior by others at work, sexual harassment at work, and failure to accommodate workers with disabilities. But you must have complained about the cause long before quitting

This is OK to use, Pugh says, if you were fired for something that you didn't do wrong, such as steal from the company.

In California, if a claimant is discharged for misconduct connected with work, benefits may be denied, said Pasadena lawyer Melanie Calvert, in an e-mail to AOL Jobs. "Misconduct means gross misconduct which harms the employer's business. Ordinary negligence is not generally considered gross misconduct. If a California claimant was discharged or quit due to an 'irresistible' compulsion to use intoxicants, he or she may be denied benefits. On the other hand, a claimant may receive benefits if they quit due to unlawful job harassment."

It's a difficult word to put on an unemployment application and one you want to avoid if possible, but it shouldn't stop you if you did nothing wrong. One huge trick of employers is to ask an employee to resign or be fired, with the implication that they'll still get benefits if they resign but won't if they're technically fired, Pugh said. Misconduct by the employee won't lead to unemployment benefits, so there's no sense in fighting it, but if you did nothing wrong, then you can still get fired and claim benefits.

"I wouldn't fall for it," she said of employers trying to entice people to quit. "It's much, much harder to get benefits if you quit than if you were discharged."

That's because the burden of proof for getting benefits is on the worker if they quit, and on the employer if discharged.

That's the phrase to keep in mind when applying for benefits if you quit while being threatened with termination, Pugh said. Even if the firing is justified, it could still be based on nothing bad on the employee's part. For example, if you violated a company rule you didn't know about, it wasn't an intentional bad act and you should still be able to collect benefits.

People worry about the stigma of getting fired and what it will look like to future employers. But if you didn't do anything wrong, it's nothing to hide from. Only your employer who fired you can look at your unemployment claim, and potential employers are not allowed to look at it, Pugh said.

"A lot of times people don't want to do that because it looks bad," she said of admitting being fired on an unemployment application.

Applying for unemployment benefits is a right to people who have lost their jobs, and it can be a stigma for people who have never done it before. The good news is that the national recipiency rate -- the percentage of unemployed workers who collect benefits -- is dropping, from 45 percent in 2001 to 37 percent in 2008. That's more people claiming the benefits they're entitled to -- as long as a few words don't trip them up.

Next: Where the Jobs Are: Growing States and Booming Industries >>

More Articles You Might Like

Summary: Filing for unemployment benefits can be tricky. If you're lucky and haven't lost your job before, it can be a difficult proce  to wade through the red tape. Some states, such a


ST. GEORGE, Utah - AT 7:20 a.m., when the hikers gather, the desert heat hasn't yet awakened, and a headlight moon still shines over Utah's red-rock country. The air is herbed with sagebrush. The 10 guests who have signed up for the hardest of Red Mountain Spa's morning hikes punch buttons on their heart-rate watches and frost noses with sunblock.

"This one's got a little bit of everything," the guide, Connie Triplett, announces to the group, detailing the 4.5-mile hike up a nearby cinder cone: Some ramps across slickrock. Some sandy stretches. Just enough climbing among boulders to make the acrophobic among the group nervous.

Ms. Triplett is dressed in the olive-and-tan of a safari guide. This is misleading. She is actually a smiling drill sergeant. At the trailhead she sets off at a double-espresso pace. The group chases her boot prints along a sandy wash, through gantlets of prickly pear and cholla cactus and past creosote bushes perhaps hiding sleeping rattlesnakes. She strides across 180-million-year-old dunes that have hardened to rippled sandstone, pushes past spiny agave, billy-goats up short rock walls. Often, she calls back hiking tips and encouragement. At a rest break, the only sound is the noise of 10 pairs of wheezing lungs.

"Any blood yet?" Ms. Triplett asks a hiker from Detroit -- an amply scuffed man who has been out here each morning this week.

"I try to pick up a souvenir every day," he replies. He dabs at a scratch, but smiles big.

Then Ms. Triplett is moving again, upward and into the waking day. Coyotes yip from the juniper. The sun reaches the horizon, and striated cliffs turn the colors of Neapolitan ice cream.

"This is just like I imagined," says Michelle Evans, 39, a fit mother of three from Covington, La., breathless as much from the view as from the hike.

"I wouldn't want to go to a spa that was just massages and facials; I'm too active," Mrs. Evans says, adding later, "I can only be puffed and fluffed so much." PUFFING and fluffing? That's not the focus at the newest breed of destination spas cropping up around the country. Once, people went to spas to submit to celery sticks and weight loss. Then spas bloomed as "pamper palaces," all about sumptuous surroundings and morning-to-night coddling. The latest evolution has spas providing what a growing number of people like Mrs. Evans want: a very active, outdoorsy but balanced vacation -- one in which the price of the evening's pampering is their own perspiration.

The United States is home to an estimated 12,000 spas of all stripes, a more than fourfold increase in the last decade, according to the International Spa Association. While the bulk of the growth has been in day spas, the number of places generally described as "destination" spas has increased 170 percent since 2002, according to the association. Increasingly, spas need a way to distinguish themselves from the pack.

Many of the new active spas take a page -- but not much more -- from places like the Ashram in the Santa Monica Mountains of California, the ascetic New Age boot camp in which participants pay $3,500 a week to do five-hour hikes and three hours of yoga daily while subsisting on very modest portions of vegetarian fare. "I like to say the New Age became the Now Age," said Liz Mazurski, editor in chief of Spa magazine. "People finally accepted that taking a hike could be good for them, and that it was a great way to spend a holiday -- and all the better if after having a hike they could have a really delicious but healthy meal and sleep in a very comfortable bed."

And so spas from British Columbia to the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico are offering carefully calibrated combinations of high-activity days in the Great Outdoors and fall-into-bed-tired nights, with varying levels of frills. The costs range from $200 a night on up. At Las Olas Surf Safaris in Hawaii, a women's surfing camp, on-the-water lessons are mixed with yoga, good food, body-conditioning classes and spa treatments. At Mountain Trek near Nelson, British Columbia, guests can hike up to 4,000 vertical feet daily with a guide, but still return to a massage and ample food. At Cal-a-Vie, 40 miles north of San Diego, the hikes are more modest and the spa treatments more lavish -- as is the price: $2,795 for a three-night program.

Back at the trailhead at Red Mountain Spa, Ms. Triplett ended the hike by handing out icy face towels scented with spearmint. It was only 10 a.m. -- leaving the group plenty of time to fit in a post-hike stretching class, an abs class, cardio salsa, spinning or something called Pilates on the Ball -- with an hour or so out for lunch. No one at Red Mountain Spa cracks the whip on guests after the morning hike, but no one seems to make a whip necessary. Most people hopscotch from class to class all day, or hike or bike on their own. The hammocks scattered about the 55-acre compound rarely fill with loungers. At mealtime, guests show up in boots dusted with trail dirt -- except when they arrive in their white bathrobes because they are on their way to an Adobe Lavender Wrap.

Red Mountain is still a spa, after all, and outside the treatment rooms, the menu of offerings runs from the usual hot stone massages and reflexology treatments to things like the Slickrock Survival Fango Treatment, a mud leg wrap followed by a massage aimed at a footsore hiker's thighs, calves and feet; pedicures with adobe clay; and a full-body Mother Earth Wrap of local bentonite clay, infused with lavender and aloe. Unlike most spas, Red Mountain keeps its treatment rooms open till 10 p.m., so those who have been moving all day can get the lactic acid kneaded from their sore thighs, or be coddled with an 85-minute "extreme sports pedicure."

That evening, over a glass of chardonnay and a tilapia with a pineapple-soy reduction, Mrs. Evans and her friend, Kelly Rudolph, 44, gave a simple explanation for why they had come to Red Mountain. "We wanted to work out all day and then be pampered at night -- and then fall into bed," Mrs. Evans said.

Talk turned to the next day. Should they rise again before the sun for an even longer hike, or rent bikes and pedal to the artists' community of Kayenta? Mrs. Rudolph jumped up -- the decision had to wait: it was time for her hot basalt-stone massage in the spa center.

IN the early 1990's Red Mountain was an old-style fat-farm spa offering walking and water exercise programs, along with low-calorie meals. Later, it had a brief incarnation as a corporate training center. Then, in 1999, with new owners looking for a new thrust, the 109-room resort underwent an $8 million renovation and retooling as an adventure spa aimed at drawing in hiking enthusiasts who would like a wrap or facial as well. Since then, the average age of Red Mountain's guests has started to fall to 40 to 42, said Deborah Evans, the spa's general manager, just below the industry norm of 42 to 45. Generations X and Y, young Americans who have grown up feeling the appeal of the outdoors and the benefits of activities like yoga, "love this type of vacation because it has everything they want in one vacation," said Ms. Evans, who is no relation to the guest Michelle Evans.

"We expect our average to drop further over the next several years," she added.

Also helping to keep the age down is that Red Mountain, unlike many destination spas, doesn't require a weeklong stay, making it appealing to younger visitors who may have less to spend on a spa vacation.

"Right now, the industry is being shaped by spa-goers who are savvier about the spa experience and who want treatments that yield results," Lynne Walker McNees, president of the International Spa Association, said in an e-mail interview. "ISPA's research shows that the No. 1 reason people go to spas is for stress relief. Improving mental and physical health as well as regulating body weight are also driving factors. The future belongs to those spas who answer this call."

In Red Mountain's case, geography was destiny: Just beyond the walled compound lies the playground of the 5,700-acre Snow Canyon State Park, a mini Zion National Park of sunset-colored walls, trippy Jurassic sandstone humps and sandy arroyos.

Summary: Article on combination of strenuous outdoor activities and luxurious evenings being offered by spas; regimen at Red Mountain Spa in St George, Utah, described; photos; list of some 'luxury boot camps' (L)


Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff took home less money in 2015, and he won’t get a raise this year. But he managed to arrange something a little extra for his heir apparent, chief operating officer Keith Block.

Aside from his traditional compensation—a package totaling more than $12.3 million, including $10 million in stock—Block received an extra “bonus” early last year, a $40,500 watch in recognition of his sales leadership, according to the company’s preliminary proxy statement.

The extra consideration isn’t exactly surprising, given Benioff’s frequent, public praise. Actually, it’s not even the most expensive form of “other” compensation listed by the Salesforce in the proxy statement. The company spent more than $1.4 million on security arrangements for Benioff during business trips. Salesforce also paid out more than $100,000 to send three top executives—Block, CFO Mark Hawkins, and President Alex Dayon—to leadership and motivational events. Plus, it covered the costs of using the Salesforce jet to evacuate one of Dayon’s family members from a foreign country because of a medical emergency.

After Benioff, Block is the second-highest paid “named” executive on the Salesforce crm payroll. Since Benioff hired him away from Oracle orcl in 2013, Salesforce has been reporting larger customer contracts. In late March, for example, the software company scored a $100 million deal with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to provide its cloud-delivered sales, marketing, and customer service applications.

It puts Salesforce one step closer to Benioff’s and Block’s joint vision of driving Salesforce to reach $10 billion in annual revenue faster than any other business software company. The company reported $6.7 billion in revenue for 2016. It expects to top $8 billion in fiscal year 2017, which ends next January.

Salesforce made “significant” changes to Benioff’s pay package for the upcoming year. That included reducing his total compensation by 16% and tying more than half to performance-based, restricted stock grants, according to the proxy statement.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily technology newsletter.

Benioff earned $33.4 million, including a base salary of $1.55 million and a bonus of $3.1 million. That’s 16% less than his package for fiscal 2015, which included $1.4 million base and a $2.8 million bonus.

According to the proxy statement, Benioff’s base salary and target bonus will remain the same for the current fiscal year. That’s not the case for Block, who is due to receive a 7% raise in base pay, to $1.15 million.

Salesforce has scheduled its annual shareholder meeting for June 2 in San Francisco.

Summary: Plus, a $41,000 watch for COO Keith Block.


Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Alicia-ville anymore.

I’m betting that at some point during the first hour of “BrainDead,” which is from the makers of “The Good Wife,” you’ll have a major “What the what?” moment, especially when you see newly zombified humans obsessively blasting the 1980s hit “You Might Think” by The Cars.

If nothing else, this new CBS show is unique.

Here’s a description. It’s a science fiction series that has alien bugs arriving by meteor and invading and altering the brains of politicians in Washington, D.C.

It’s a horror comedy that shows cranial matter leaking out of human ears with the exclamation-pointed special effects of, say, “Men in Black.”

It’s a procedural drama about warring Senate factions, with a D.C. newbie — Mary-Elizabeth Winstead’s Laurel — at the center.

And it’s a big, fat, juicy allegory about what ails America, set in the very present tense, with TV footage of Donald Trump yelling about greed in the backdrop.

Is it good? It’s an interesting and ambitious effort to blend D.C. political dealings with alien horrors. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

I’m interested in seeing how the material develops, and whether, in the midst of all the grotesquery, creators Michelle and Robert King can get us to care about the characters, including Tony Shalhoub’s Republican senator. Perhaps “BrainDead” will get too silly and peter out quickly — it’s hard to tell.

In the coming weeks, the writers will need to remember that we are not among those referred to by their title.

Summary: ”BrainDead” is an interesting and ambitious effort to blend political dealings with alien horrors. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.


Nevertheless, OnePlus, a Chinese startup founded in 2013, is still trying to push in anyway by churning out Android-based devices that emphasize both style and substance at a fraction of the overall cost of many other devices populating the Android goog ecosystem—not to mention the iPhone aapl , too.

However, despite already hawking its hardware in 42 countries, OnePlus isn’t exactly a household name in the United States, just yet.

Based on comments by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, the company’s success could hinge on recent shifts in how smartphones are bought and sold now that carriers have finally (but only rather recently) abandoned the old subsidized, two-year contract lock-in scheme.

Yet even with what is seemingly a bargain basement price for what OnePlus is pitching, the trick will be getting mainstream consumers unfamiliar with the brand to buy into an unknown over the likes of Apple, Samsung, and HTC, among others.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Fortune: What makes the OnePlus 3 different?

Pei: If I start with what’s the similar, it’s very a competitive smartphone to the latest Samsungs or Apples of the world. That’s both from a performance standpoint because it has state-of-the-art hardware, such as six gigabytes of RAM, compared to three or four.

We started off with a solid block of metal and carved that down to the shape of the phone rather than melting the metal. The result is a more robust build. On the bottom, there is a speaker grill, and the sides of these have a high-gloss kind of look. It’s a subtle detail. Design language-wise, we’re following the same philosophy as before. Basically, balancing softer curves with harder edges. You’ll see that the back tapers on both sides, but it’s surrounded by a solid line to give it a more masculine look.

What’s different is we developed a fast-tracking technology called “Dash Charge.” We’re positioning this as a day’s power in half-an-hour. The biggest difference is the power management happens in the adapter instead of the phone itself. On every other charging product, the technology happens in the phone, and this produces heat in the phone. But if the heat already happens in the adapter, and the adapter has a much larger volume, then we can safely pump more currents into the phone. So it really shines when the screen is on. It charges just as fast as if the screen was turned off.

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily technology newsletter.

What were some of the mistakes you learned from and sought to correct over previous models of the OnePlus?

We’re a direct-to-consumer company. We cut out a lot of the middle men—no stores, no retail presence. Our team is smaller than others. We rely on our users to like our product to then go spread word-of-mouth. The goal is to create a product on par with leading smartphones but sell it at a price slightly more than half. It’s a new business model. After the success of our first year, we became a little bit more focused on the mainstream market than core users.

The absence of near-field communications (or NFC, a technology that lets people pay in stores by waving their smartphones in front of chip readers) on the OnePlus 2 raised some eyebrows. Has that been addressed this time around?

Not having NFC on our previous products was a mistake because our users are early adopters, and they would use the latest stuff. So we’re going back to basics by being more aware of where our users are and making products for them. NFC made a comeback. This clarity helps us make decisions when it comes to products. So far what we’ve been hearing from the tech press and beta testers is that things are positive.

(Ed. Note: The OnePlus 3 does include NFC.)

The OnePlus 2 came out only a few months ago. Why such a rush to roll out a new model? Can we expect similar turnaround schedules in the future?

We make one or two smartphones a year. The OnePlus 2 came out in July. The OnePlus X came out in October as a smaller device with a larger focus on design. It’s a complementary product line. Normally within this industry, you’d update your product line every year.

What we’ve been saying from the beginning is that we don’t want to make 20 mediocre products. Being a smaller company allows us to focus more. That’s the only chance to break through. If we made the same quality products as everyone else, no one would remember what we stood for.

The shopping process is different for the OnePlus 3 compared to its predecessors. Can you explain the strategy and rationale for that?

It wasn’t too different from a Kickstarter (an online crowdfunding hub) in the beginning. We didn’t know how many people would want to buy our products. So it was an invite-only system. It allowed us to control supply and demand better, and grow in a slower but safer way. We didn’t like the pre-order model on Kickstarter because there’s not a lot of trust there. A lot of Kickstarter products are often delayed rather than ship when promised.

This is our third year, so we’re no longer brand new to this industry. We can’t keep using the same excuse that we want to manage our risk. Every year, our fans have higher expectations of us. Therefore we’re removing invites forever. Because of the fact that people associate with us being difficult to purchase, we’re doing another thing that’s different. The OnePlus 3 will be available for sale the same day that it’s announced.

Why should someone buy this device over another Android phone or an iPhone?

I don’t think there are one or two defining features. We just met with another tech reporter, and what he said was that he tried to find weaknesses, but he couldn’t really find any. For a regular consumer, price matters a lot as well.

It’s more expensive to make because it’s being manufactured at a lower volume but with the highest-performing processors. The carrier model—I don’t think it’s in favor of consumers in the U.S. I think I read that 64% of consumers who are paying off their monthly contracts don’t know that they’re paying off the phone. There’s not a lot of education in the market for being savvy about smartphone purchases.

Given the consolidation around the iPhone and Android ecosystem by an increasingly smaller group of well-known electronics giants, how hard has it been to break into this market? Where has it been easier?

We see this as a positive thing. Companies that don’t put product first disappear more quickly from the market. For us, we’re not in the same playing field. We are an e-commerce, direct-to-consumer company. If you look at the U.S. market, unlocked smartphone sales grew by 150%. So what is decreasing is the traditional model of buying a phone at the carrier’s store.

Unlocked is a market that’s growing. We want to position ourselves as the premium player in this space. We’re seeing smaller brands come in and try to replicate that, but they usually can’t compete at this range of quality.

The OnePlus 3 is going to be $399, but in terms of features, performance, and overall polish—and when I say this, I think most tech reviewers would agree—it’s competitive with $800 smartphones.

For more about what a future iPhone could look like, watch:

Where does OnePlus go from here? Further international expansion plans? Doubling down at home in China or in the U.S.?

Our main focus markets are Europe, the U.S., and India. It will remain this way. Instead of going broader, we want to go deeper in the markets where we’re at. If we keep making good products, mainstream users will start to recognize our products.

In the beginning, our story was about growth and marketing, but in the end, it’s kind of missing the point. If you take the invite system, for instance, it created buzz and grew fast because of the invite model. But if the product wasn’t a good product, why would someone invite their friends to buy it? In the end, the story should be about the product. If you don’t create a solid product, then you don’t have a reason to be around.

Summary: But can anyone really topple Apple or Samsung?


In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting in San Bernadino, Calif., the world, especially those on social media, was once again engulfed in the gun control debate.

One point of controversy focused on the many people on Twitter, especially politicians, who sent out prayers to the victims. Some, particularly those within the political left, expressed that praying over shootings wasn’t enough, especially in the absence of meaningful legislation designed to address the problem of gun violence. This sentiment was illustrated vividly in the cover of Wednesday’s New York Daily News, which proclaimed boldly that “God Isn’t Fixing This.”

One reporter, though, took the argument even further. Igor Volsky, a contributing editor at Think Progress — an independent editorial site sponsored by The Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive think tank — took a look at all the politicians tweeting out their prayers and figured out how much money each elected official had received from the National Rifle Association. A few examples are below:

All in all, Volsky found that in 2012 the NRA spent $19.7 million on candidates who tweeted “thoughts and prayers” after the San Bernadino shooting.

According to OpenSecrets, a site that tracks money in politics, the NRA spent $984,152 on campaign contributions during the 2014 election cycle. It also spent more than $3 million on lobbying in both 2013 and 2014. The NRA also spent $28,212,718 on outside political contributions during this period, which includes ads paid for directly by the NRA. That makes it the tenth biggest spender when it comes to such political spending.

Summary: The numbers are astounding


It turns out all that hand wringing over millennials ditching cars for fixies, Uber rides, and mass transit might have been premature.

Millennials are acquiring cars; they’re just not buying them. Instead, millennials are opting to lease more luxurious, tech-forward cars than they could otherwise afford to buy.

Millennials are not only opting to lease vehicles at higher rates than the overall car-buying population, they’re hungry for bigger, more luxurious ones, according to an analysis released by car-buying platform Edmunds on Tuesday. Millennials are particularly attracted to leasing Ram, GMC, and Lexus brands.

Leasing has accounted for 28.9% of all new car purchases of millennials ages 18 to 34 in 2015, according to Edmunds’ analysis of car registration data provided by Polk. The percentage exceeds the industry-wide lease penetration rate of 26.7%. It’s also reflects a 46% jump in leasing by millennials over the last five years. By comparison, the share of leasing among all car shoppers has increased 41.7% during that period.

Millennials’ leasing rate outpaces the total population in every one of Edmunds’ 24 vehicle segments except for one: compact cars.

This doesn’t mean millennials are living beyond their means. They are technically staying within their budgets.

A survey of millennials conducted in June by Edmunds and Morpace Inc. found that 57% of respondents said they’re willing to put no more than $2,999 down on a new car purchase, and 54.9% said they’re willing to pay no more than $299 per month. Using those figures, shoppers who finance their purchase are limited to vehicles priced under $20,000. However, shoppers who are willing to lease can use the same upfront and monthly budget toward a vehicle prices as high as $35,000.

When they do lease, the cars and trucks they pick are big, lean towards luxury, and are tech-centric. Edmunds found that millennials who acquire a new Ram truck are 30% more likely to lease it than the general population. Other top brands that millennials are more likely to lease include GMC (26.1% more likely), Lexus (23.9% more likely), Jaguar (21.8% more), and Cadillac (20.5% more likely). The remaining car brands that round out the millennial leasing list include Buick, Subaru, Scion, Mini, and Acura, according to Edmunds.

While there is any hard evidence yet, the leasing trend among millennials is likely being driven by technology, Jessica Caldwell, director of industry analysis at Edmunds, told Fortune in an email.

“Leasing allows car shoppers to effectively get into a new vehicle every two to three years, which isn’t dissimilar to people’s smartphone rotation,” Caldwell said. “Being guaranteed a new vehicle in a short time frame ensures that one will be up-to-date with the latest in-car technologies.”

Many automakers are poised to take advantage of this appetite for tech and luxury. Manufacturers are finally realizing that their vehicles aren’t just tools of transport, they’re smartphones on wheels. Millennials, it seems, have realized this, too, as they pursue the latest tech-friendly vehicles under financial models similar to other must-have tech devices.

Summary: Forget about buying. If you see a millennial driving a Ram truck, GMC, or Lexus, chances are they leased it.


LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16— A senior editor at The New Republic has published a column on the Internet that deplores the violence in the film ''Kill Bill'' and criticizes Harvey Weinstein, the co-chairman of Miramax, which released the film, and Michael Eisner, chairman of the Walt Disney Company, as ''Jewish executives'' who ''worship money above all else.''

The article by the senior editor, Gregg Easterbrook, appeared Monday on The New Republic's Web site. Within the site, Mr. Easterbrook has his own ''Easterblogg'' column.

Mr. Easterbrook said on Thursday that he planned to apologize ''for a really bad choice of words.''

In the article, Mr. Easterbrook attacked Quentin Tarantino, the director of ''Kill Bill,'' calling him a ''phony'' who ''does nothing but churn out shabby depictions of slaughter as a form of pleasure.''

The movie, which opened last week and was No. 1 at the box office, is a bloody revenge epic and a homage to Asian action movies.

Mr. Easterbrook criticized Miramax, and its parent company, Disney, as seeking profit by ''wallowing in gore'' with movies like ''Scream'' and ''Kill Bill.''

He said, ''Disney's C.E.O., Michael Eisner, is Jewish; the chief of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is Jewish.''

''Yes, there are plenty of Christian and other Hollywood executives who worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence,'' Mr. Easterbrook said. ''Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence?''

Mr. Easterbrook went on to say, ''Recent European history alone ought to cause Jewish executives to experience second thoughts about glorifying the killing of the helpless as a fun lifestyle choice.''

In a joint Disney-Miramax statement, Matthew Hiltzik, a Miramax spokesman, said, ''It is sad that these terrible stereotypes persist and that these comments are receiving a wider platform. It does not deserve any further attention.''

Peter Beinart, the editor of The New Republic, said: ''Gregg made a mistake. He recognizes that. He's a very valuable member of the staff. And I don't think he's the least bit prejudiced.''

The New Republic is a liberal magazine that has traditionally had a deep interest in Israel and Jewish affairs.

Mr. Easterbrook said he planned to apologize in his Web site column on Friday for ''stumbling into a use of words that in the past people have taken as code for anti-Semitic feelings.''

Mr. Easterbrook said he wrote a column last week about Mel Gibson's coming film ''Passion,'' and added: ''I raised the issue that Mel Gibson professes to be an ardent Christian. Maybe he is. But his background previous to this movie is making movies that glorify violence.''

''I raised the exact same question about a Christian,'' Mr. Easterbrook said, and ''there was not a single peep.''


Taxes raised via the hated Air Passenger Duty should be used to help aspiring pilots with the £100,000 cost of training and to ensure flying isn’t just a career for a wealthy few, a union has urged.

Pilots are racking up debts of £100,000 and are often forced to turn to their families, bank loans and credit cards to meet the cost of training, according to the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa).

The union is pressing the Government to use a portion of funds raised via APD - a tax which is met by passengers through ticket prices and will raise £3.9bn for the Treasury in 2015/16 - to make sure that Britons who aren’t from wealthy backgrounds are not excluded from becoming pilots.

Balpa says other industries, such as construction and shipping, already operate similar schemes. In a speech to the Royal Aeronautical Society on Wednesday, Balpa’s chairman, Captain Mark Searle, pointed to the maritime “tonnage tax” and the Construction Industry Training Board as potential blueprints.

“It is a myth that there is currently a shortage of pilots in the UK but it is certainly becoming harder for people without serious financial backing to take up a career in the cockpit,” he said.

“Paying to train a generation of pilots who have been priced-out of their dream is a smart way of using an unfair tax on flying to provide some return to aviation. It works in construction and maritime and, with Government and industry support, we could help ensure that the UK has a system in place to train new pilots to as the industry and economy grows.”

A recent survey of cadet pilots showed that more than half were going cap in hand to their parents for financial support while a third had taken out bank loans, were relying on credit cards or re-mortgaging their homes to pursue their chosen career.

Balpa has found that one in six newly qualified pilots are trying to make do on £500 a month or less in their first jobs, as they have to juggle repayments on loans.

The harsh reality of pilot training is at odds with the stereotypical image of pilots' glamorous, jet set lifestyles.

Summary: British Airline Pilots' Association calls on Government to divert funds raised   via Air Passenger Duty to ensure a career in the cockpit isn't just for the   wealthy


AT THE end of today, Tuesday June 7th, many of those eligible to vote in Britain’s EU referendum will lose the chance to do so. As a consequence, they will be voiceless as their compatriots go to the polls on June 23rd in a referendum with more lasting significance for their country’s future than any general election. In future years they may well regret the outcome of that vote, and its long-term effects. But having declined to take the five minutes needed to register online and thus make their voice heard, they will have no right to complain.

I am principally referring to the young. They overwhelmingly support staying in the EU: according to The Economist’s latest poll-of-polls 61% want to remain and 18% to leave. Yet they are disproportionately absent from the electoral roll: 30% of all 20-24 year-olds are unregistered, compared with just 5% of those over retirement age. Thus with polls now narrowing (five of the last ten have put Brexit ahead) there is a real risk that the Leave campaign—which increasingly characterises a vote to quit the EU as a mandate for a more closed-off country—will win thanks to older voters nostalgic for the Britain of the past. So young voters matter, as this advert by Wake Up and Vote and Bite the Ballot insists.

Nostalgia is no crime, but it would be a travesty if those Britons who will live to pay the long-term price for such a decision (that is, those now in their teens, twenties and thirties) did not exercise their right to object to it. Not least as they are probably the most well-equipped to judge what is best for their country’s future.

I recently attended a pro-Brexit rally at which the speakers (one from UKIP, another a well-connected Conservative) admited that youth turnout had to be kept as low as possible for Leave to win. Young people are simply too immature to understand such a serious decision, agreed one man in the audience. Au contraire. The young are the most familiar with new technology and what it means for Britain in the world. Unlike previous generations, they have grown up in a globalised economy defined by interdependence. They have a modern conception of national identity and belonging: they are more likely than older generations to define nationality as adherence to a country’s institutions and values rather than a function of race and upbringing. They are more relaxed about immigration than the greying voters to whom Boris Johnson and Michael Gove so disingenuously pander. In other words, they are liberals.

Hence their strongly pro-European perspective. It would be a great shame if young Britons did not bring this to bear on a referendum that will do so much to define the Britain of 2030, 2050 and beyond.

Britons and Irish and commonwealth citizens legally resident in the United Kingom must register by midnight today (Tuesday June 7th) to vote in the referendum. They can do so here.

Those who are registered and will be away from their normal address on June 23rd can apply for a postal vote. Local election registration offices will accept such applications up to 11 days before the referendum. The deadline for proxy vote applications is six days beforehand. Proxy voters can submit their proxy votes by post; this too requires an application.

Summary: The Brexit referendum will decide the Britain of the future. Young voters are best equipped to judge what that should be


In 1713, when he was only 25 years old, Alexander Pope assumed a momentous risk. Barred by his Roman Catholic religion from the normal apparatus of Government and private patronage, he took subscriptions for a large-scale project that filled his life for the next seven years and established his absolute pre-eminence among the poets of his time. The result was a version of Homer's ''Iliad'' that Samuel Johnson pronounced the greatest translation ever achieved in English or in any other language.

The Romantic age triggered reaction against Pope's neo-classical techniques. Homer was considered a bard, close to nature, betrayed by the high pomp of England's Augustan age. But there has been a rejection of that rejection. The formulaic devices of Homer served a highly ritualistic world, with typical scenes of strict protocol for sacrifice, prayer, combat, hospitality and oratory. Pope's own formulas no longer look so un-Homeric.

Yet this great poem has not been available for use in classrooms, or in modest libraries, since the great Twickenham Edition of it is cruelly expensive. Steven Shankman, a professor of English and classics at the University of Oregon, Eugene, and director of the Oregon Humanities Center, remedies that shameful neglect with a new Pope's ''Iliad'' (''The Iliad of Homer Translated by Alexander Pope,'' Penguin, $22.95), completely re-editing the poem from Pope's last published edition (the Twickenham works from the first edition), modernizing the spelling and - most important - including Pope's extensive notes, which show how carefully Pope weighed the possible meanings of the original.

The retention of Pope's punctuation is less helpful than it might at first seem. Though he was careful about it, he was working with 18th-century conventions and his audience's knowledge of the heroic couplet's possibilities. The modern reader will not readily perceive the degree of pause Pope was indicating with the onward flow of his lines.

The thing that best distinguishes this from all other translations of Homer is that it alone equals the original in its ceaseless pour of verbal music. When Pope's contemporaries praised him for his ''numbers,'' they were referring not to the fairly obvious metrical system of the heroic couplet but to the euphony he achieved within its constraints. The relatively enclosed nature of the system concentrates attention on every syllable in the line, on continual shifts in the position and degree of pause marked by metrical breaks (caesuras), on sound effects used to emphasize the careful alterations in word order. Dryden, working a generation earlier on his translation of Virgil, had complained that the raspy consonants of English denied him the smooth vowel effects of the ancient languages. Pope worked miracles in highlighting the play of vowels through his lines. His most potent effect is assonance - the lazy music, for instance, of the three long e sounds (ease, heaps, grieves) in this:

Thus at full ease, in heaps of riches rolled,

The relatively full stop after ease sets the tone for its sound being repeated. By contrast, there is a plangent climax to the mounting long a sounds (mat-, race, -slaved) in

The matrons ravished, the whole race enslaved.

There is a lighter pause at that caesura, which is not preceded by the key sound, and a lighter stress on the words that follow. The vowel music often tells us how much or little weight to put on the metrical beats.

The echo of leap in Greek makes us read the line this way:

Leaped forth the lot of every Greek desired.

The interplay of assonance (long e sounds) with double caesuras in the second line of this couplet shows how Athena pulls Achilles up short:

The force of keen reproaches let him feel,

but sheath, / obedient, / thy revenging steel.

The sputtering rage of Achilles is marked by double caesuras and stammering short u sounds (-ious, thus, -rupt-) in this couplet's second line:

Here on the monarch's speech Achilles broke

And furious thus / and interrupting / spoke.

The sense here is underlined by consonants clashing at the word junctures (-ious-thus, -rupting-spoke). Though Pope de-emphasized English consonants when he wanted smoothness, he thickened them for obstructive effect. Ajax's shield is tough

with sev'n thick folds o'ercast

When a spear hits that shield later on, it must drive through six bull hides

Till in the sev'nth it fixed.

By omission of the vowel, consonants are crunched together.

Here Hector's chariot breaks through war's congestion (and consonants) to clear a space in the last five words:

And mangled carnage clogs the rapid wheels.

Here Hector, plunging through the thickest fight

Broke the dark phalanx, and let in the light.

When the meaning calls for it, Pope can put as many as five caesuras in a couplet:

They tug, / they sweat, / but neither gain, / nor yield

One foot, / one inch / of the contended field.

Or, conversely, he uses no caesura to get a spreading and leveling effect like this:

And one refulgent ruin levels all.


A federal judge who has been a target of Donald Trump’s unending scorn must decide whether to release videos of the presumed Republican presidential nominee testifying in a lawsuit about the now-defunct Trump University — images that Trump’s attorneys worry will be used to tarnish the campaign.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel faces Trump’s attorneys Wednesday for the first time since he permitted the release of unrelated documents in a class-action lawsuit alleging fraud, a move that led Trump to intensify his unusual attacks on the judge that included mention of his Mexican heritage.

The lawsuits allege that Trump University, which wasn’t accredited as a school, gave seminars and classes across the country that were like infomericals, constantly pressuring students to spend up to $35,000 for mentorships and, in the end, failing on its promise to teach success in real estate.

News organizations want full transcripts and video of Trump testifying at an all-day deposition Dec. 10 at his New York office and for three hours on Jan. 21 in a Las Vegas law office. Nearly all transcripts have been released and Trump’s attorneys said last month that they won’t oppose unsealing the remaining pieces.

The big battle is over video, which Trump’s attorneys don’t want to see sliced and diced in campaign attack ads.

“The near certainty that the video depositions would be used for political purposes — having nothing to do with the merits of this litigation — only underscores the court’s duty to prevent misuse of these judicial proceedings,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.

They argue that Curiel should follow another judge in a lawsuit involving Hillary Clinton’s email practices. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in the District of Columbia has allowed the release of deposition transcripts but no video. He sided with lawyers for Clinton aide Cheryl Mills, who said “snippets or soundbites of the deposition may be publicized in a way that exploits Ms. Mills’ image and voice in an unfair and misleading manner.”

News organizations argue that the public has a right to the complete record, given how Trump has touted his business acumen and questions that the lawsuits have raised.

Lawyers representing Trump University’s former customers say the videos present “a more complete picture” than the transcripts.

Trump’s tone, facial expressions, gestures and body language show “complete and utter unfamiliarity” with Trump University’s instructors and instruction, despite the business mogul’s previous statements that he was extensively involved, the attorneys wrote. They said Trump also made “many spontaneous and ad hominem remarks that are not reflected in the paper transcript of his depositions.”

In portions of Trump’s testimony that have been released, he acknowledged that he plays on people’s fantasies. He is also pressed on blog posts in 2008 that Bill Clinton was a great president and Hillary Clinton would make a great president or vice president. Of his praise for Hillary Clinton, he said, “I didn’t give it a lot of thought, because I was in business.”

An adverse ruling for Trump may test his pledge in early June to avoid talking about the case and the judge.

Trump called Curiel “a very hostile judge” and a “hater of Donald Trump” in an 11-minute attack at a San Diego rally on May 27. Later, he said the Indiana-born judge’s Mexican heritage and membership in a Latino lawyers association posed a conflict with Trump’s positions on illegal immigration and promise to build a wall on the Mexican border.

Summary: Trump's attorneys don't want to see the videos sliced and diced in campaign attack ads.


07/17/2016 AT 04:55 PM EDT

is officially the new Han Solo!

News spread that the 26-year-old actor would be portraying

, but the news was officially announced in London on Sunday during the Future Filmmaker Panel at the Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016.Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and John Boyega also attended the panel.

"I've never screen-tested with a Wookiee," Ehrenreich said about the audition process during the panel. "It was amazing."

The news was also announced on the film franchise's official

Earlier in the three-day festival, Lucas Film President Kathleen Kennedy and

director Gareth Edwards introduced new footage from the upcoming movie while participating in a panel featuring the

Ehrenreich is no stranger to working with legends.

He was first discovered by

at a Bat Mitzvah when he was 14. The acclaimed actor saw Ehrenreich in a movie shown at the party and arranged a meeting with a casting director at Dreamworks.

Ehrenreich made his feature film debut in

, playing Bennie, a boy looking for his long-lost older brother. He went on to film another movie with Coppola before landing a role in

Most recently, Ehrenreich received praise for his role as an ironically not-so-talented actor in the Coen brothers'

, which was released in February.

The new Han Solo film is set to be released in May 2018.

Summary: The force is officially with the 26-year-old actor


When mechanical problems grounded Donald J. Trump’s private plane on Tuesday night in Indiana, Gov. Mike Pence seized the opportunity.

The jet-setting Mr. Trump had his three oldest children fly to meet him after he was unexpectedly stranded in Indianapolis, so Mr. Pence and his wife hosted the family for breakfast on Wednesday morning at the Tudor-style Governor’s Mansion.

The families were chatting politely over coffee when Mr. Pence, a mild-mannered Midwesterner, delivered an uncharacteristically impassioned monologue, according to people with direct knowledge of his remarks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the meeting.

With the vice presidency potentially hanging in the balance, Mr. Pence described his personal distaste for Hillary Clinton and her husband, the former president, and spoke of feeling disgusted at what he called the corruption of the 1990s.

The monologue appeared to be a success.

Even Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, a trusted adviser who had admired Newt Gingrich, came away swayed, believing that Mr. Pence could gel with the Trump team.

Mr. Pence was not invited to join the Republican ticket that morning. But in a telephone call on Wednesday evening, Mr. Trump gave Mr. Pence a reassuring signal the job was his: “You’re my guy,” Mr. Trump told him, according to a person briefed on the conversation.

Nonetheless, the courtship between Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence had all the caprices of a young romance. At first, Mr. Pence was standoffish and skeptical — only to become the suitor as the days wore on, fervently pursuing Mr. Trump and the No. 2 slot.

And Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential screening process was unusually public, leaving admirers of Mr. Pence worried that he could end up being spurned or even humiliated. Having beckoned Mr. Pence to New York on Thursday, Mr. Trump nevertheless engaged in a final round of hand-wringing conversations with aides about whether he was ready to become partners with such a new acquaintance.

Yet it was the breakfast gathering — for which Mr. Pence and his wife, Karen, picked fresh flowers — that appeared to have sealed Mr. Trump’s decision, capping a whirlwind three weeks that ended with the coupling of a thrice-married former reality television star known for vulgarity with an old-school Midwestern Republican of deeply conservative Christian faith.

Mr. Pence has neither the élan nor the bravado of Mr. Trump’s other vice-presidential finalists, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Mr. Gingrich. But Mr. Trump, a natural showman, has described Mr. Pence to associates as someone who looks the part, straight out of “central casting” with his clean-cut, silver-haired appearance. And Mr. Pence has admiringly called Mr. Trump “the people’s choice.”

“It is fair to describe the relationship as fairly new and quickly flourishing,” said Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster to both Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence.

Still, close associates of the candidates say they are not a natural pair. David Kensinger, a Republican strategist in Kansas who has advised Mr. Pence in the past, said the Indiana governor was a privately charming man with a strict filter on the public stage.

“He tends to be very formal in public, and he had a reputation when he was in Congress of being a bit stiff,” Mr. Kensinger said. “Pence is a man of 21st-century ideas and 19th-century manners.”

Only a few weeks ago, the partnership between Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence might have come as a surprise to both men, who had no personal relationship. They have still met with each other only a handful of times.

An early and uncomfortable introduction, in the fall of 2011, came as Mr. Pence was preparing to run for governor and visited Trump Tower to seek a financial contribution from Mr. Trump. At the time, Mr. Trump was fascinated by gossip surrounding the marriage of Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, whose wife had divorced him to be with another man, and then remarried Mr. Daniels several years later.

Mr. Trump declared to Mr. Pence that he would never take back a wife who had been unfaithful, according to the account of a witness. A second person briefed on the meeting described it as an awkward encounter for the strait-laced Mr. Pence.

Michael D. Cohen, a lawyer for Mr. Trump who attended many of his talks with politicians that year, said he did not remember the meeting that way. “Not only do I not recall this topic being discussed,” Mr. Cohen said, “it does not even sound like something Mr. Trump would ever say.”

Mr. Trump sent a check for $2,500 to Mr. Pence’s campaign for governor, but no personal friendship blossomed.

Indeed, when emissaries from the Trump campaign first reached out early this month to gauge Mr. Pence’s interest in the vice presidency, the governor told his political allies that he would meet with Mr. Trump — but only as a courtesy.

Close advisers to Mr. Trump, including Paul Manafort, his campaign chairman, and Ms. Conway, the pollster for both men, were keen on the governor. Mr. Pence was less entranced by the idea.

But when the two men played a round of golf over the Fourth of July weekend at a Trump club in Bedminster, N.J., they began to warm to each other. Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, and Karen Pence came along. And the governor, seemingly sensitive to Mr. Trump’s boastful athletic self-image, later told NBC News that Mr. Trump had “beat me like a drum.”

After golf, the two couples had dinner, and Mr. Trump learned that Charlotte Pence, the governor’s 23-year-old daughter, had accompanied her parents on the trip to New Jersey. Mr. Trump insisted that the foursome have breakfast the next morning with Charlotte, whom he disarmingly peppered with questions about her life.

“The thing I think both of these men have in common is their preferred leisure time is to spend their time with their families,” Ms. Conway said. Mrs. Pence and Mrs. Trump, she added, “connected as mothers.”

Friends noticed a shift after the holiday weekend: Mr. Pence no longer described conversations with the Trump campaign as a pro forma affair. Instead, he advised his allies that a spot on the national ticket, if offered, would be a hard prize to turn down.

There were other signs, too, that the two men might be able to forge a partnership. They met again in April, at the Indiana Governor’s Mansion in advance of the state’s primary contest. The goal for Mr. Trump was to keep Mr. Pence neutral, at minimum, before the vote. (In a cruel irony for Mr. Christie, it was the New Jersey governor, then an adviser to Mr. Trump who had yet to become a rival to Mr. Pence for the vice-presidential nomination, who brokered the meeting.)

The conversation was perfunctory but pleasant, and Mr. Christie told associates afterward that Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence had hit it off. Mr. Pence ultimately endorsed Senator Ted Cruz of Texas shortly before the primary, but he did not lash out at Mr. Trump or question his qualifications for office — a significant point Pence allies would later make.

Mr. Pence impressed in other ways. Mr. Trump and some of his family members were delighted that the governor’s vetting check was completed quickly, with no red flags. For Mr. Trump, whose life has played out on the pages of New York’s tabloids, Mr. Pence’s lack of personal baggage came as a relief.

And the other contenders had problems. The scandal over the shutdown of the George Washington Bridge was potentially hobbling to Mr. Christie; Mr. Gingrich, a self-described “pirate,” had a marital history equally colorful to Mr. Trump’s; Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa was inexperienced and evoked unflattering comparisons to Sarah Palin; Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee had a rough audition with Mr. Trump; and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama would face scrutiny of his record on race.

On Tuesday, after Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence campaigned together, and Mr. Trump’s plane breakdown left him stranded in Indiana, the unlikely partners had an impromptu dinner at the Capital Grille.

And at some point during the evening, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Pence if he would say yes, were Mr. Trump to offer him the No. 2 slot.

“In a heartbeat,” Mr. Pence replied.

Summary: When mechanical problems stranded Donald J. Trump in Indiana, the state’s governor seized the opportunity with an impassioned monologue.