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Iraqi Peshmerga Arrive in Kobani; High School Students In Hawaii Find Way To Protect Electricity Poles From Lava; The Communications of the Future; WHO Cautions Against Relaxing on Ebola Efforts; Thousands Of Yazidi Girls Bought and Sold by ISIS

Aired October 30, 2014 - 8:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Now the world's biggest smartphone maker says it is struggle to sell smartphones. We'll look at what is ailing Samsung.

NATO reports an unusual rise in activity by Russian aircraft over Europe.

And we peek into the world of photography on a tiny scale. You're looking at the eyes of the spider.

Samung's profits plunge as the world's biggest smartphone maker is having some trouble selling smartphones. Now Samsung reported a 60 percent

drop in operating profit in the third quarter and blamed it all on what used to be the crown, the jewel in the crown, Samsung's smartphones.

Now for the first time in years, most of Samsung's profits are not coming from handsets, they're coming from semiconductors.

Now, it is worth remembering that despite that slide in profits, Samsung is still the world's top smartphone maker by shipments. Now these

third quarter numbers released just yesterday by IDC show how far ahead of the pack Samsung is.

But there's another side to this chart.

Now out of the top five, Samsung is the only one that didn't grow. Apple, Xiaomi, Lenovo and LG, they all shipped more phones than the

previous year. But Samsung shipped 7 million fewer handsets.

Now Andrew Stevens looks at why Samsung's appeal is slipping.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ask Hong Kongers what phone they want to buy and this is the overwhelming answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: iPhone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apple.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The iPhone 6.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apple.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: iPhone.

STEVENS: Why? Better design and resale value are the most common answers here.

It all adds up to more trouble for the global tech giant Samsung. Earnings are hit by growing competition on several fronts.

One of the strengths of Samsung has always been the sheer number of models it produces. This is just a small selection of the more than 30

smartphones with the Samsung brand.

But their strength is now becoming a weakness. At the top end, the iPhone 6 is challenging the Galaxy Note 4, which is just out, because

iPhone is now producing a phone with a much bigger screen.

And at the bottom end, this $100 Samsung phone is under threat from Xiaomi. This is a new Chinese brand, the new kid on the block, which many

are now saying is doing it better and cheaper than Samsung.

The Apple/Samsung rivalry is of course legendary. And it remains the key battleground. Talk to sellers in this popular mobile phone shopping

mall and right now they say it's going Apple way.

LO LAU, G-WORLD MOBILE (through translator): If Apple hadn't made the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Samsung sales would be good. But now most people are

going for Apple first.

STEVENS: Globally, Samsung still dominates in the Smartphone market, but marketshare is falling, down 7 percent in the second quarter.

At the same time, Xiaomi overtook Samsung in marketshare in China, the world's biggest smartphone market.

But Samsung has the ability to turn this fight around, says leading analyst Mark Newman.

MARK NEWMAN, SANFORD C. BERNSTEIN: And so Samsung really needs to be more aggressive and compete with the Chinese with better specs and lower

pricing. And they can do that, because they have a much better, lower cost structure and much bigger scale than any of these competitors. And so I

think if they're more aggressive they can still get profit and actually put pressure on the Chinese and actually gain some of that share back that

they've lost recently.

STEVENS: The clear message, this tech powerhouse maybe down at the moment, but it's certainly not out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And our Asia-Pacific editor Andrew Stevens is here and joins us now.

OK, so we heard just then from the analysts what Samsung needs to do next. It needs to be more aggressive, but what will Samsung do?

STEVENS: Well, they've been actually speaking to analysts today on the usual analyst call and they made it quite clear that they are going to

chase that lower-end market, the mid to lower end as the report points out. They're being squeezed at both ends, but they've made a strategic decision,

which the stock market seems to like -- the stock up 4 percent today -- that they're going to go after that number, after that lower end.

But an interesting number, Kristie, just doing some research there, looking at the margins involved. Apple's margin per unit is $224. Each

phone it sells it's got a margin of $224. If you look at Samsung across its whole spectrum, it averages $18, 1-8.

So they are going into the area where the margins are the thinnest. So that's where the real battle line is for them.

It's a big call -- Apple obviously loves it that they're going to be focusing away from the top end.

LU STOUT: Yeah, Apple is still ruling the top end and Samsung is being squeezed at the top and also at the bottom by the middle tier

smartphone makers, including Xiaomi, which is rising, now the number three smartphone maker in the world. How so?

STEVENS: Was it you who were saying like a year ago sort of describing it almost like a cult?

LU STOUT: Yep.

STEVENS: You know, this newcomer cult.

Third in the world.

Look at this number here. What it doesn't tell you is this is 5.3 percent, but it grew by 200 percent in the quarter, in the number of units

its shipping. So the growth is quite astonishing there.

And they've gone for this very simple model, which is slice the margins razor thin, move volume, keep it at the low end. And they've

targeted China, they're targeting India. They're targeting Indonesia, all big emerging economies, big rising middle classes who want to get a

smartphone, but they can't afford obviously at the top and so they're going in for 100 -- $200, $300 model.

Interesting in China, Xiaomi's most popular model goes for about $113, the Redmi.

But they're a fascinating company. Four years old. Privately owned. Seems to be going down this sort of Apple cult path. They are apparently -

- I haven't seen it for myself, but there are apparently hundreds of what do they call Mi fans who turn out at every product launch and cheer and do

the right thing. The chief executive dresses a little like Steve Jobs, et cetera, et cetera.

But whatever they're doing, apart from the sort of the buzz they're doing the business very, very well.

LU STOUT: Yeah, they have the rock star following and they have the results right here so far.

Andrew Stevens there. Thank you so much and take care.

STEVENS: Thanks, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Now, Microsoft has unveiled a new health tracking system and a new fitness band to go with it.

Now the Microsoft Band tracks steps and heart rate like most other fitness bands, but it also has a small touchscreen to display notifications

like email or Twitter. It works with both Microsoft's own handsets as well as Android and Apple's iOS.

Now another tech company is also moving into the world of health tracking, but it is not one you'll expect -- Nintendo. The video game

maker unveiled plans for games built around a sensor that tracks your sleep as part of Nintendo's plan to focus on the quality of life of its users, an

attempt to find a new market for it's games and sales of the popular 3DS console slow and the WiiU continues to struggle.

STEVENS: $6.

LU STOUT: Now Nintendo's latest move, it might seem a little bit weird, but the video game maker's history is full of radical gambles.

A decade ago, many were confused by Nintendo's decision to build a console around motion sensing technology, but the Wii became a smash hit.

And Nintendo's pioneering use of motion technology was quickly copied by its rivals.

Now the company has already experimented with healthy video games. Wii Fit was a game based around a series of physical exercises and people

loved it. The series has sold over 40 million copies.

But you could argue that making video games at all was a strange move for Nintendo. This tech company is over 100 years old. Nintendo started

out making Japanese playing cards back in 1889.

Now you're watching News Stream. Still to come on the program, NATO says Russian military aircraft are putting civilians at risk. We'll go

live to Moscow.

And in Hawaii, the National Guard moves in as Lava flows near homes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now banding together to take down ISIS, the first Iraqi Peshmerga fighters have started entering the embattled Syrian city of Kobani. They

are joining forces with their Syrian Kurdish brothers to fight off the militant group.

Now members of the Syrian Free Army are also in Kobani to aid in the battle against ISIS.

Now ISIS has unleashed some of its most brutal treatment on the Yazidi community in Iraq, particularly Yazidi women.

Ivan Watson spoke to a former captive and got a firsthand account of what they had to endure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jana was a 19-year-old high school senior with dreams of becoming a doctor when ISIS first came to

her village.

JANA, FORMER ISIS HOSTAGE (through translator): They came to the village and said you have to convert to Islam or we will kill you.

WATSON: Jana, not her real name, is from the village of Kocha (ph), a community of ethnic Kurds from the Yazidi religious minority, which was

surrounded and occupied by ISIS early last August.

Soon after Jana says ISIS ordered the entire village to go to the school where they stole all the people's jewelry, money and cellphones and

then separated the men from the women.

According to a United Nations report, ISIS then, "gathered all males older than 10 years of age, took them outside the village by pickup trucks,

and shot them."

A different fate lay in store for the women.

JANA (through translator): They separated the girls and the women who had children and the old women. They took us girls to Mosul to a big three

story house.

WATSON: Jana says there were hundreds of girls in the house and they got visits from the men of ISIS.

JANA: They came to the room and looked around at the girls. And if they liked one, they chose her and took her. If the girls cried and didn't

want to leave, they beat the girl.

The guy who chose me was 70 years old and he took me to his house. There were four Yazidi girls there already. They hit us and they didn't

give us enough to eat or drink. They told us we were infidels.

He put me in a room and put a gun to my head and I was on the ground. And he said I will kill you because you won't convert to Islam.

That night, they came and took and 11-year-old girl away. And when she came back, she told me they raped her.

NAZAND BEGIKHANI, ADVISER TO KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT: These women have suffered severe psychological trauma. They've been

systematically raped not only by one person, but by different men at the same time.

WATSON: Dr. Nazand Begikhani is an adviser to the Kurdistan regional government and an expert on gender violence. She says ISIS kidnapped more

than 2,500 Yazidi women last August after mounting an offensive that triggered a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Yazidis and other Iraqi

minorities.

Since then, she says the captive women have been bought and sold across Iraq and Syria like cattle.

BEGIKHANI: They had two main aims -- first to recruit youngsters by giving them these young girls and women. And secondly, to humiliate and

expose these women into slavery and systematic rape.

WATSON: That fits and account we heard from an ISIS fighter held in a Kurdish prison in Syria.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When someone joins ISIS, they give him a girl, marry him off and maybe $2,000.

WATSON: Since August, Kurdish authorities succeeded in rescuing only a fraction of the thousands of kidnapped Yazidi women.

BEGIKHANI: So far, we managed to rescue about 100 women.

WATSON: Begikhani says all of those rescued say they were raped.

If you could say something to the men who took you to his house, what would you want to tell this guy?

JANA (through translator): I don't want to tell him anything. I just want to kill him.

WATSON: Ivan Watson, CNN, Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, NATO is reporting an unusual rise in Russian military aircraft flying in European airspace. And this comes at a time of

increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Now NATO says it tracked more than 20 planes over the Baltic, North and Black Seas on Tuesday and on Wednesday. And they were flying without

filing flight planes.

Now a NATO official tells CNN that the flights may just be a precursor to unannounced air exercises.

Now CNN's Matthew Chance joins me now live from Moscow with more. And Matthew, NATO is alarmed by this, as they call, unusual rise in Russian air

activity. But what is the Kremlin saying about it all?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Kremlin is not commenting on it at this point. We've tried to speak to the Russian

defense ministry as well and they've not given us any comments either.

These are relatively routine military maneuvers that have been taking place, of course, in international air space. None of these aircraft, as

far as I'm aware, have actually penetrated the air space of a NATO country. And so of course Russian war planes are within their rights to conduct

these maneuvers in international skies above international waters. And that's precisely what they're doing.

The big concern, of course, is that firstly that there are such large numbers of these Russian airplanes that are flying sometimes in formation,

surrounding strategic nuclear bombers coming from Russia. We've counted 26, or NATO has counted 26 in the past 48 hours in various locations above

the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the North Sea.

That's one of the concerns that all this is happening at the same time, which is highly unusual.

The second concern, which is one that you mentioned, is the fact that for the most part these military aircraft are not filing flight plans.

They don't have their transponders turned on. And they're not talking to civilian air traffic control. And so potentially they pose a threat to

those very busy civilian air corridors that crisscross Western Europe -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: And separately, U.S. officials, they tell CNN that Russian hackers tried to access the White House. What have you learned about that

incident?

CHANCE: Well, you're right. I mean, U.S. officials are saying that they believe that this breach of security or attempted breach of White

House computer security may have come from Russia. Of course, there's very little as far as we're aware of hard evidence, that's the nature of cyber

warfare. The anonymity of it all means it's very attractive to various governments -- Russia included as well as China and of course the United

States.

We've spoken to the Kremlin about what they're response is for falling under suspicion for hacking into these computers. And they've said, look,

we don't see any evidence. We've been hearing a series of groundless allegations against Russia recently. And we're not going to take them

seriously until some proof is presented.

So, the Kremlin distancing itself from this latest apparent cyber attack.

LU STOUT: All right, CNN's Matthew Chance with the word from Moscow. Thank you, Matthew.

Now the number of Ebola cases is climbing. The World Health Organization counts more than 13,000 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola

in West Africa, more than 4,900 have been fatal. It is feared the real numbers could be much higher.

Now the vast majority of those cases and deaths are in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

WHO officials say the outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria are officially over.

Now, there are some encouraging signs coming out of Liberia. Officials say that the rate of infection there appears to be slowing. But

the World Health Organization warns against complacency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE AYLWARD, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I'm terrified, you know, that the information will be misinterpreted and that people would start to

think, oh, great, this is under control. You know, Ebola is -- that's like saying, you know, your pet tiger is under control or something. This is a

very, very dangerous disease. Any transmission change in any area can rapidly result through a couple of, you know, dangerous events in many,

many more cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: So the threat is definitely still there.

You're watching News Stream. Still ahead on the program, it is slow but unstoppable. Hot lava is creeping closer to homes on Hawaii's Big

Island. We've got the latest coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now Apple CEO Tim Cook is gay. Now he came out in a column for Bloomberg Businessweek today. And in it he wrote this, quote, "while I

have never denied my sexuality, I haven't publicly acknowledged it either until now." And he adds, "so let me be clear, I am proud to be gay. And I

consider being gay among the greatest gifts god has given me."

Now Cook has never discussed his sexual orientation in public before, but said many colleagues were aware that he's gay.

Now one employee tweeted this photo at a gay pride event in San Francisco back in June.

And in today's column, he wrote this, quote, "if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or

she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it is worth the tradeoff with my own

privacy."

Now a fiery stream of molten lava could soon reach more than a dozen homes on Hawaii's Big Island. About 20 families have been told to

evacuate.

Now Martin Savidge reports the threat is so serious National Guard troops are being called in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This morning, about 80 members of the Hawaii National Guard will be deploying to the town of Pahoa. They'll

be there to provide present patrols. They'll also be there to man the various roadblocks beefing up the loyal authorities in helping to provide

security.

But security is not the only concern for local residents.

Nearly an inch of rain fell on Pahoa Wednesday, but it did nothing to slow the lava's advance.

The lava front is only 15 feet wide, but as more lava fills in behind it, the destructive potential grows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As it moves through the community, it moves through the area, it has the possibility of widening, which could then make

the impact even bigger.

SAVIDGE: As a result, authorities told more residents in the projected path it was time to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's tough. From one minute to the next I cry and then I, you know, deal with it.

SAVIDGE: The lava is threatening major roadways on the island. Their loss could take a commute or ambulance ride from minutes and turn it to

hours over alternate routes.

At the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science in Pahoa, a private high school, these advanced science and engineering students had to help their

town.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The power poles would just have burned up.

SAVIDGE: No power poles, no power, or vital communication lines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Temperatures can be 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, which will destroy most anything in its path.

SAVIDGE: In just 90 minutes.

They came up with a brilliant plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The initial drawing is shown right here.

SAVIDGE: They call it a power pole protection barrier and gave the idea to the local power company.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came out and they said, hey, this is actually really cool. We're going to run with it.

SAVIDGE: So the utility company did what the science kids said and you know what it works.

These pictures taken of one protected pole already hit by the lava shows the pole survived. Now, all around town, the poles are being

protected thanks to some hometown heroes.

It's amazing what those students at the school have managed to come up with, but it isn't all good news. You see, that school where they learned

so much and worked out those great ideas is currently in the path of the lava flow.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Thank you, Martin Savidge.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, taking attention to detail to a whole new level. We've got highlights from the Nikon small

world microscopic photography competition straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And you're watching News Stream. These are your world headlines.

The al Aqsa Mosque compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount is closed to all worshipers right now. Israeli authorities shut the holy site

after they shot and killed a 32-year-old Palestinian man. He was the main suspect in the drive by shooting of a hardline activist rabbi. The rabbi

survived.

An advanced team of Iraqi Peshmerga fighters has entered the embattled Syrian city of Kobani to join the fight against the militant group. Now

those reinforcements are arriving a day after members of the Syrian Free Army came to help Battle ISIS as well.

Police in Northern Ireland have made an arrest in a notorious IRA murder. Mother of 10 Jean McConville was abducted and killed by the IRA in

1972. Her body was found more than 20 years later. The 73 year old man from South Belfast has been arrested in connection with the case, but we

don't yet know the charges.

A major Ebola vaccine trial is getting underway in Switzerland this week. Now the World Health Organization says 120 people will take part in

the trial. So far, nearly 5,000 people have died from the virus in West Africa.

Now the wonders of the natural world can be very, very tiny. Now you're looking at the winner of this year's Nikon Small World competition.

And this stunning photo was taken through a microscope. It captures a fleeting moment of an aquatic creature.

Now the runner up, it took on a very different subject, the unique pattern inside a calcite crystal.

And the third place, it went to a very haunting image of a spider's eyes. Now the eyes, they look enormous in this picture, just details that

you would never notice at this creature's regular size.

Now joining us now is one of the judges of this year's competition. Now Dave Mosher is in New York. He is the online director of Popular

Science. He joins us now live. And Dave, thank you for joining us here.

We're going to bring up the first prize winner once again. And please tell us in more detail exactly what are looking at?

DAVE MOSHER, POPULAR SCIENCE: So, if you're on the Serengeti and you're taking photos of animals, this is kind of like taking a photo down

the mouth of a lion. This is a Rotifer. And this image is really difficult to capture. These things are moving incredibly fast, faster than

you can possibly imagine. And so this photo just exhibits extremely good technique in every way.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and I had to look up online what a Rotifer was. It's a microscopic aquatic animal, so an amazing heart-shaped image there. What

did the photographer have to do, though, to get that image?

MOSHER: That's right.

So he had to wait for hours and hours just waiting for the right moment to take that photo right when the mouth of that Rotifer was open.

And you mention that these are aquatic animals. They're a huge underpinning to so many ecosystems around the world. So this is an up

close look at something that feeds, you know, much of the world's creatures.

LU STOUT: Now, Dave, it is the day before Halloween, so we've got to show once again that third place winner. And every time I look at it, oh,

I get the goosebumps. It's a freaky one. We know what it is. But tell us about, oh, my goodness the power of this microscopic image of spider's

eyes.

MOSHER: Yeah. So this is one of my personal favorites. The technique of putting this one together is really interesting. You've got

to take -- this -- a 19-year-old actually took 80 photos and stacked them all together so you get this hyper depth, you know, three dimensionality to

this photo.

But, I mean, these are the eyes of a jumping spider. This is a sort of apex predator in its world. And it uses that binocular vision to sort

of zero in on its prey and jump on it.

LU STOUT: It's an incredible image, because it's something almost looks cartoon-like.

And as a judge, how do you make that decision? how do you go through all these incredible images and select the best ones for the Nikon Small

World competition. What do you look out for?

MOSHER: Yeah. So it's not just about visual punch, that's really important. We look for originality. We look for technical prowess. You

know, we look for these things that really set these images apart from everything that's been presented to Nikon before. And this is a contest

that's been going for 40 years now. So we take great care in selecting those winners.

LU STOUT: Yeah, it's about artistic quality as well as masterful scientific technique. And I can only imagine that that scientific

technique has changed over the years. As you mentioned the competition began 40 years ago. So how has the competition and the images changed over

the last four decades?

MOSHER: Yeah. So we've entered a bold new world of microscopy in the past four years. We have so many new tools at our disposal to look at the

microscopic world, which is this invisible universe that dictates so many things about our lives. Some of those techniques -- in fact, one of them

just one the Nobel Prize in chemistry and that is super resolution microscopy, that's basically defied physics from the standpoint of people

who take micrographs.

So, we've got all these new tools that are florescents, super resolution microscopy, all these great things to examine the world that's

all around us, but we don't see.

LU STOUT: All right -- I've learned a new word, microscopy. Thank you very much for sharing the results of the competition and congrats to

everyone involved. It's great stuff. Thank you for joining us.

Dave Mosher, Popular Science, joining us live from New York. Thank you. Take care.

And for a look at more breathtaking images from this year's competition like this one -- this was a cool one. This one shows a circuit

inside a DVD reader. Or we'll bring up another one for you, the brain of a mouse.

Just head to our online gallery, you can find it at CNN.com.

Now, an investigation is currently underway to determine what caused an unmanned rocket to explode during takeoff in the U.S. state of Virginia.

Now debris was scattered over a wide area after Tuesday night's failed launch of the Antares rocket. Athena Jones has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Picking up the pieces in Wallops Island, Virginia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

JONES: After a massive explosion Tuesday night destroyed a rocket heading to the International Space Station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.

JONES: It was 6:22 p.m., launch time for Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket. But just seconds after lift-off, a catastrophic failure that

stunned eyewitnesses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, God!

J.D. TAYLOR, WITNESS: We saw the rocket starting up and everything was looking good for the first couple seconds. And then it was fairly quickly

you could see something was wrong.

JONES: The $200 million rocket and the Cygnus cargo space craft was carrying 5,000 pounds of food, supplies and science experiments. Teams from

Orbital, NASA and MARS, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, and others spent Wednesday searching for and collecting debris, the first step in

figuring out what went wrong.

BILL WROBEL, DIRECTOR, NASA'S WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY: It really helps them kind of reconstruct what happened.

JONES: Orbital will lead the accident investigation, working with NASA and others. That review is only just beginning, company officials said on a

conference call with investors.

DAVID THOMPSON, PRESIDENT/CEO, ORBITAL SCIENCES: Well, we still have a lot of work to do in the days ahead to analyze all of the telemetry and

video data; to review the recollections and notes of the participants in the operation.

JONES: Thompson said the engines used in the rocket's propulsion system have caused technical problems in the past, and that while it's too

soon to blame them for the explosion, the company was already planning to replace that system.

WROBEL: You kind of go into a different mode, and that's the mode of all right, let's figure out what happened.

JONES: Meanwhile, another company, United Launch Alliance successfully launched a GPS satellite from Cape Canaveral Wednesday, proof that things

go right more often than they go wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: That was Athena Jones reporting there.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, do you remember these old telephone switch boards? Well, coming up, the evolution of

communications technology and the look at the next frontier.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now technology is changing the way we live and the way we do business. And this week in our special series, Tomorrow Transformed, Richard Quest

looks at the impact technology has had and will continue to have on the way we communicate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It all started with one call. As the way we communicate turned to technology.

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, INVENTOR OF THE TELEPHONE: Hear my voice. Alexander Graham Bell.

QUEST: The spoken word went by telephone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is information. May I help you?

QUEST: The written word became email. Then, we cut the cord, moving from wired to wireless.

ALEX SMITH, MOBILE PRODUCT LEADERSHIP NIELSEN: Basically all of your friends are in your pocket wherever you are, whenever you're doing

something they're there. You can pull out your phone and you can text them, send them a video, send them a picture.

QUEST: Here in South Korea, one of the most connected countries in the world, messaging apps rule the roost, especially KakaoTalk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): When you use Kakao Talk, it's easy to send messages, group chatting or gift icons.

QUEST: The basics of communication have always remained the same. These type of apps give it a little something extra.

Today, we can tell the world our needs and emotions through our technology. There's no need to speak to anyone. But is this communicating

or is it just noise?

TOREA YOUNG, DAUM KAKAO (through translator): Personally, I think the best way of communicating is to meet in person and talk. There are some

things you can only convey in person. But Kakao Talk means being connected 24 hours a day, so I think it's a vital supplement to face to face

communication.

QUEST: Today, we are more connected than ever. The challenge is handling the impact it will have on our world tomorrow.

Will we care more about the technology we use to communicate and less about the people on the other end of the line?

YOUNG (through translator): So far our users communicate person to person by sending gifts or playing games with each other. In the future,

that connection will expand from not only person to person, but also person to object, person to information and online to offline. Communication as a

whole will improve.

SMITH: I think it's had a massive impact for the positive in terms of how we communicate, especially when we look at how effectively it basically

removed that barrier, that historical barrier to communicating a distance, where ever people are -- family or friends around the globe -- we can now

just pull out our phone. So it really has opened up the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Amanda Davies is up next.

END