greg live from world headquarters in midtown manhattan and here three in san francisco, welcome to "bloomberg west," were we focus on innovation, technology, and the business. i am matt miller regression president vladimir putin comes and swinging at the annual press conference. he blamed the west for the economic crisis that has gripped his country. >> what you can be sure of is that we will overcome this difficult period. we will find a way out of this difficult situation. i am sure we will be stronger in the international arena and the global economy.

ruble studied after his comments. he says an emergency rise in interest rates is appropriate, but they are not going to spend all their money on it. >> is a merger coming between two of europe's largest companies? the two companies have been off-again talks for years. no kia is flush with cash after selling its mobile phone business to microsoft for $7 million -- $7 billion. oracle shares rose about 9% and what point today after the company reported a 4% gain and second quarter revenue. oracle is making progress in its transition to the cloud. revenue from the cloud business up 45% from a year ago. amazon has just launched a new one-hour delivery service. right now, it is available in certain areas of manhattan only. but amazon lance expansion soon.

-- amazon lance expansion soon. it is called prime now and they plan to get certain products to customers in less than one hour. the u.s. will officially blame north korea for that massive cyber attack against sony pictures entertainment. a person with knowledge of the investigations says u.s. officials have gathered enough evidence to determine with high confidence that the north korean government is to blame. scraps as after sony christmas day release of "the movieiew" in major u.s. chains decided not to show the film following threats of violence from the packers. the movie is about a couple of news guys who go off to kill kim jong-un. mattingly is in new york today. we knew this announcement was coming, but what can u.s. officials really do about it? hear as soon as

today from officials is that investigators, primarily from the fbi, have determined that they have been able to guide -- tidy government of north korea to this hack. >> it sounded like almost a pr stunt from sony, blaming the north korean spirit some people found it hard to believe that north koreans were capable of such high-tech maneuvering. >> north korea, particularly on allies like south korea and japan, is very capable on this front. it is a public shaming mechanism. they have done this a couple times, most recently in may with chinese government hackers with where they indicted them. there will be the law enforcement side of things for the big question riling up the white house is what to do to respond to this. do you go back at them from cyber avenues? oryou use diplomatic means sanctions? they are all being considered. there is a big question when it comes to a response to a state-level attacks, you're setting a precedent.

so how do you want to set this precedent? >> we have seen on twitter, an outpouring from hollywood artist, saying it is a big fail, giving up, giving in to terrorist demands, and this is not the way america is supposed to work. how about the response out of washington? >> it is somewhat muted on the administration side in terms of what sony chose to do. the company is in a very bad place right now and will do what they need to do. officials made it clear that throughout the gores of the investigation, sony has been very helpful and forthcoming. you heard the president last night in a news interview with abc, before sony pulled it, saying americans should go to the movies. there is no indication on the intelligence side that a threat of a terrorist attack was valid or real. they were very wary of it appeared when a constant negotiations with terrorists, the administration's poly has

always been firm -- do not do it. but sony is an imprint -- independent company and can operate on its own grounds. >> was there an official white house response about the remarks about the president liking movies like "if the butler"? the white house secretary said that it was something that made everybody cringe. they were not going to weigh in on the executives themselves, but the white house acknowledges -- look, they have been confronted with these situations all six years he is been in office of before hand. but they are saying, clearly, this was not a good idea. it is a recognition of something that needs to change. maybe now people will change. trying to put it in a positive way. >> thank you very much. phil mattingly, our white house correspondent. this is, obviously, a major victory for those north korean hackers, the first time any hackers have successfully canceled the release of a major film. the decision eyes sony to pull

the interview has both financial and creative consequences for the studio, potential losses theh of $200 million, and creator up in arms. joining me is bluecoat chief of security strategist via skype. and we haven't entertainment -- we have an entertainment specialist, catherine arnold. what do people think about sony for giving in to these terrorist demands? creative community, everybody is up in arms. this is hitting us from a cultural perspective. freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression is what we're made of. so how will this affect movies going forward, and how will it affect books, magazines, comedy, and tv shows?

it has wide, far-reaching effects. people are disturbed week as they do not know where it will end. >> and if the north koreans can do this, it seems like anybody can. does it surprise you that they have this capability? thanks for having me. it is amazing. i think it was the last three or four years, you have seen almost every developed nation building capability,ty including a cyber offensive capability. they are training people and getting tools. we see it on full display in this sony hack. >> is all they have to do is call in a 911 threat to get a film canceled, won't countries ?rom around the world do that >> it is a double-edged sword whenever you expose your capabilities. you show what you have a utep your hat. there is a lot of uncertainty still in this sony hack.

who was it really that launched the attack? were they folks that are just sympathetic or folks from the government? there is still a lot of things we will be finding out over the next weeks and months. kathy, obviously, if iran does not like a movie, they can and gettinge studio canceled, as well. it is a slippery slope. wishst people in hollywood they would continue on with the release of the film, whether it dvd or throughor netflix or amazon. i think sony and all the studios will have to work with their cyber security units and find a way to put up -- this is not my area of expertise, but really work on how to get the movies out and not bow to the terrorists, which can come from any country or religious sect.

they are fanatics and are trying to censor the united states, and freedom of expression is one of our most important tenets. >> how come we do not see other studios rally around sony? why didn't you see the hollywood community get behind this company and say, you know what, if you can shut them down, you can shut us down, too, so let's release the film? >> that is a good question. we're definitely in uncharted territory. i think everybody had a wait-and-see attitude because they did not want to make the first move because it sets such a dangerous precedent. the need to rally around creators to support freedom of expression, but i do not think anybody wanted to make the first move and if, god for bid, something happened, it would look like a liability. we are in uncharted territory, and everybody is watching closely what is going to happen next. >> hugh, what would you do if a studio came to you and said we have these threats of violence but we're going to put this

realm out anyway because that is what we do in this country? how do you prepare for that sort of thing? >> it is challenging, and we have already seen on display the capabilities this group has but you can achieve some level of security and recovery. i think you go back in and do a for -- a full forensics investigation. how did these guys get in? what kinds of tools did they use ? i think it is a wake-up call for a bunch of different industries that have not historically focused on security to say that those industries are potentially address. there is a lot we can learn from this attack. certainly, there is a lot of great cyber security capabilities out there in the marketplace. so call on those companies now to bring those capabilities in- house. >> how often do you see cyber security threats cross over from

the virtual world into real physical violence? there were a couple incidents of this in a certain case, and i was surprised to see it come from the internet too, you know, a gunshot. >> if you think about what is happening on my now i side of the sony case, think about the internet and the banks, we're connecting all of these can edit devices to a network connection with moving parts that can do things. so it is becoming a very serious to get those things, those devices, these companies secure online? i think that we are making a lot of progress in the space, but with this attack and several others over the last year, to be quite frank, have shown as we still have a lot of work to do. >> hugh thompson from bluecoat arnold, thank you both for joining us. the white house spokesman is saying that the hack origin is still under investigation.

you can see him speaking now. he says the white house is holding its daily meetings on the sony hack attack and this is seeing treated as a national security matter. the white house taking it fairly seriously. we will continue to bring your headlights out of the press briefing. still ahead, more questions about the way uber screens its drivers. a boston man working as an uber driver is accused of raping a woman. you can watch as on your tablet, phone, or at bloomberg.com. obviously, apple tv and amazon fire, as well. stay with us. ♪

>> i am matt miller. this is "bloomberg west." a boston man who works as an of rape.er is accused police identified the defendant as the driver of the car through company records. an uber spokesman says -- this

is a despicable crime and our thoughts and prayers are with the victim during her recovery. uber has been working close with law enforcement and will continue to do everything we can to assist in their investigation. uber says it will do more background checks on its drivers. matt is the former chairman of the new york city taxi and limousine commission. thanks for joining us. we were talking during the commercial break. i'm pretty sure uber drivers in new york are vetted, right? >> yes, and that is a good thing. when i was working for mayor giuliani, we put in great reforms in the 1990's which included i/o metrics fingerprint scans it within 24 to 48 hours, you get complete criminal history. it is better and more accurate than the ones they're doing in other cities and states around the world. >> right. to be clear, uber has different regulations for drivers in

different cities in the country and around the world. >> the chairman of the public utilities committee resigned today in california. he allow this thing called ridesharing, which to me is really hitchhiking. i was told pitch hiding -- hitchhiking is dangerous when i was growing up, and you're just using an app to hitchhike with the ridesharing. point. >> anchorage all the legislators, whether it is new jersey, illinois, california, and they are now starting to revisit these laws in colorado. they have been lobbying, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on efforts to have less background checks, to do it themselves, when every other taxi and limo is going like we , going through a fingerprint which is more accurate. i do believe we need to do that. it is good that uber has acknowledged they need to do that. ounce, really before

today's case came to light, that they are going to do more background checks or dude deeper background checks, and also weird things like a lie detector test, right? >> yes. the expense they are going to use of their own to do this is crazy. it does not go far enough. the government needs to do it. they are trying to have a special invention in these states so they can do it themselves. they have enough money. they can pay for the service to be vetted. it is unfortunate, all these horrible tragedies, our hearts got out to the people affected, from new delhi, india, d, .alifornia, chicago, now boston >> to be clear, even a yellow cab driver can commit, and have emitted terrible crimes. people of all walks of life, regardless of background checks, sometimes commit horrible

crimes. there was a ridesharing attack this weekend -- that may have been a different company. >> what consumers need to know is that there is a greater risk theirber and lyft because checks are not as accurate. the u.s. attorney general, years ago, did a study that looked at and licensedyees applicants. over 10% of them, name checked versus i/o metrics, were people with prior convictions that were not caught. you will never catch everybody. but if you can catch somebody, to havele have a right rehabilitation, but some should not be behind the wheel. controlumers, we have of our destiny and we have alternatives. there are others that the government background checks. we have the option to delete that app. until we are rest assured that the cyber security

issues -- al franken, senator franken, is really questioning not just the alleged rapes and stuff, but the alleged spying and tracking and use of data by uber. i do not know what is really going on there. hopefully we will know in the future what the deal is. bottom line, when i put the gps in the new york city yellow cabs years ago under mayor bloomberg, we cut a deal with the new york civil liberties union where we actually said that we, by law, have to have security provisions of that data, and any cabdriver will not know where you are going in a new york city cab right now. do they have the ability -- they have the ability to, but we have laws that say it is illegal for the new york city taxicab vendors that run the system to know where you are going or to use that data. it is illegal. we should do the same thing for uber and the right shares. >> maybe they will ask for your

advice on this. i want to read a statement -- >> i do nothing that will happen. >> they said that in november, the uber safety team began a global review to assess the areas were greater investment is required, and we will build new safety programs and intensify others in 2015. >> if they call me, i will talk to them. >> here is hoping 2015 is a better year. matt, thank you for joining us to talk about uber. cofounder the paypal things he can live to the ripe old age of 120. find out why he would even want to do that and how, coming up next. ♪

foreter thiel is known

holding paypal, being the first outside investor in facebook, and his contrarian thinking. he is hoping to live to the age of 120. emily chang sat down with him for tonight's edition of 1. studio0. thought a lothave about the extension of human life, and you think you may live to 120. >> i certainly hope to, yes. >> what are you doing differently question might argue taking a mortality pill? >> i am investing in a lot of biotechnology companies. on the nutrition side, there are ime very they sick things think that can be done to you should not eat sugar. that is part of the nutritional rules. >> do jan -- do you not eat sugar? >> i try not to die them on a paleo-type diet. you actually will need new technology and new innovation to and to have20

longer and healthier lives. >> like what? >> we need to find cures for cancer, cures for alzheimer's beard we need to figure out ways to store or games when they're falling apart. you have to look at ways the body breaks down and figure out how to reverse that. i am on the human growth a daily basis.n >> really? what is the benefit? >> it helps maintain muscle mass, so you are much less likely to get bone injuries, arthritis, stuff like that as you get older. there is a worry about an increased cancer risk. >> you are not concerned about that? >> i am hopeful that we will get cancer cheered in the next decade. the other big nutrition thing happening is all the stuff on the biome where you basically have about as many bacteria .nside of you as you have cells

one of the things that will happen in the next few years as people will figure out ways to reset your neck terrio ecosystem -- bacterial ecosystem, and look at healthy people to figure out what ecosystem they have, and you replace it with yours. ♪

>> you are watching "bloomberg focus onere we innovation, technology, and the future of business. topton creek is hoping change the future of food, and now it has more money to do so. the company behind egg-free mayonnaise has just raised $90 million in serious e-funding. big-name investors pitched in, including the cells were's ceo, the facebook cofounder, and the yahoo! cofounder. earlier, cory johnson, before he lost his voice, set down with the hampton creek ceo and

founder to talk about the company's plans. isabout 99% of what we eat not good at all. how can we use a different approach? >> it is a pretty big market. >> we want to be a point to put out products that we have the ability to make better. wethe case of mayo, how do make something more healthy and more affordable? thatke picking products connect with people emotionally. mayo is put on everything. there is a natural authenticity to it. and we like markets that are fairly large. we will be coming out with pasta next, towards the end of next year. >> i read about your business, and it sounds like frankenfood, but the way you talk about it is quite the opposite, both in terms of natural ingredients versus processed food.

>> think about what it actually is. there are 400,000 plant species. the world has only researched about 4% of them. plants andhrough the pick the best of them. then we use the best of them to make food better. take the cookie dough, there is project.mo no chemical engineering. literally using plants that grow out in open fields, and we use it as a way to make food better. >> why not use the best chemistry has to offer if you use the best that math has to offer? >> it is reception. we connect deeply with everyone. we do not want to get political the second is that we do not need to be weaken use plans and without synthetically engineering them, they are good enough. a philosophical

decision, but it is a marketing decision. >> a bit of both. a bit perception, and if we can do it without doing that, it is better, too. >> what is most intriguing about this is not the products but the idea that you are using notions of how to develop products from the technology and math world and putting them into a different universe. in this case, food. of do you codify that choice how you run your business? >> our approach is, to your point, let's use data science. what we do is we screen through plants here we have all the data and put it on a database. we get computational biologists and food scientists that takes the relationships from the data and uses it to make better food. the reason we take that approach is i initially tried a different approach when we first got funded and it did not work. i thought i was going to run out

of money. the approach was, let's order lots of commercially available ingredients out there, maybe like kellogg's or nestlé or what general mills might do, and let's see what works. let's see we can make mayonnaise or cookie dough with it, and i got nowhere. i burned about $130,000. this is my dream to start this company. we do not go anywhere. then we thought to bring it biochem and data science. so each time we got a little bit better. it is almost as if we do not wew any better, so how would start over? that is when progress started to happen. >> do you have a roadmap to get this on the shelves? >> we approach it differently. we have been fortunate with the retailers that we work with her they are excited about it. we're the number one selling mayo at whole foods. whole foods was the first company to introduce the mayo.

we are in walmart. the most important partnership is not in retail. it is with the largest food company of the world, and they sell 4 billion meals a year. you can imagine the scale, massive. about margins, it is not just about something that tastes better. we also want a cost structure that enables us to sell these things in a more affordable price. kraft,ral mills, and companies that make brands, they buy them forever. andll throw in budweiser phillip morris. they get them when they are young and keep them for a long time. do you have a similar approach, demographically, to get consumer's somewhat new to the market so they stay with you? >> two groups or care about a lot -- one, millenials. they are not affixed to certain

brands. they do not mind changing it up. second, maybe surprisingly, the single mom. the mom with two kids who is concerned between 23 and 57 am a confused about what to feed her kids are chu shopping done i'll seven at walmart or kroger and does not know what to buy. we think we can provide clarity to her. those two groups are how we break into this. in techave big names investing. marc benioff is one of them. guysare not the kind of investing in average food companies. infood is this amazingly norm is sector. $1 trillion plus, and it is operating in an antiquated way, not efficient or to make it better, we have to try different approaches. i think they see an opportunity to feed people better and to use food as a mechanism to solve big

problems. i think they feel technology can be used to do that. >> that was cory johnson with a frog in his throat and the hampton creek ceo. he is healthy. a new era with cuba. will the island nation finally join the age of the internet, and what opportunities could there be for tech companies down there? that is coming up next on bloomberg "west." ♪

>> after more than 50 years of isolating cuba, president obama is going to restore diplomatic relations between the u.s. and the island nation, just 90 miles south of key west. among the changes are greater internet access or cuban

citizens. take a listen -- >> i believe in the free flow of information. unfortunately, our sanctions on cuba have denied cuban's access to technology that has a powered individuals around the globe. i have authorized increased telecommunications connections between the u.s. and cuba. businesses will be able to sell goods that will enable cubans to be able to communicate with the united states and other countries. these are the steps i can take as president to change this policy. >> internet freedom in cuba is among the most restrictive in the world, so how fast can things change and what infrastructure is needed to make that happen? i have a former fcc commissioner with me now. he is in washington, d.c. and i have a research director skypeernet analysis via from new hampshire. thank you for joining us. harold, let me start by asking -- how open is it from this site?

i mean, how open is the u.s. defending goods and agreement and selling stuff in cuba? >> i ensure u.s. businesses would like to be able to sell into cuba, but i think you have to realize that every other major country in the world has been selling goods and services into cuba for decades. it is not that cuba has an antiquated internet or antiquated telecommunications market purely because the u.s. embargo. they have access to telecommunications equipment and services from every other major company in the world. country,cuba is a poor and it has restrictions on what its citizens can and cannot see or hear anyway, right? doug? are you hearing me? problem.here is a harold, to your point, they have a 2g network down there because

they probably cannot afford to upgrade to even a 3g network, let alone 4g lte. also, a lot of them are not allowed, right? there are restrictions to what cubans can see anyway. >> that is right. the problem in yuba is it is essentially large prison state to the government controls everything that goes on there, and that is not conducive to having a very good internet. the salaries of people in cuba for state worker, which is most the people, is about $20 a month. cuba's economy needs to go on some rehabilitation program, and that probably begins with dramatic changes in the government and the way they operate there. simply lifting the u.s. embargo is not going to immediately lead to changes in the way cubans telecommunications and the internet without

dramatic changes in the way their government operates. >> turns out we are actually network.o doug on a 2g can you hear me now? >> yes. >> what is the appetite in cuba for broadband internet access? >> i think there is a lot of pent up demand. i think if the cuban government can play this the right way, they could experience something not unlike what is happening in myanmar over the last couple of years. it is a great case study for how to do this i could a couple years ago, myanmar open up their economy to the outside world. they had auctions for mobile networks. ,nd a view winning companies one paid $500 million to the myanmar government for 15-year licenses and commitments to free up 90% of the population in a

couple years. they are pumping billions of dollars into the infrastructure in that country. that is the model. they do not need to do this themselves. it.com is not going to do they're not equipped. that is not a knock on them. needs to do is create an open market and have these companies come in and compete for licenses. >> by the way, if they did that, would it be 4g or would it be a wireless thing? or would we be putting in the cables? >> all of the above. what is happening -- going back to the example of myanmar, it is relevant here, a similar thing. a country of underserved telecommunications market, so

the fastest thing is rolling out towers to extend service to the population, but those towers will also need some sort of fixed line that goes along the ground. they will have to install that, as well. in comparison, cuba would be far less seven unforgiving terrain -- less of an unforgiving terrain to install equipment on. the companies -- outside companies would come, and they would pay the government of cuba hundreds of millions of dollars to do that, provided that the cuban government were to set up a very investor-friendly kind of arrangement. >> all right appearance certainly, raul castro wants $500 million. is what we have seen in the last couple days his signal that he is ready to open the market that much? castro could have opened

his market any time in the past few decades. there has been no embargo. >> didn't he have to wait until fidel was on his deathbed? it is so much easier now that we are not even sure if his brother is alive anymore, right? may be the case be at all we know is the united states is lifting its embargo, and the people of cuba have been very poor for decades and are likely to remain in that condition until the government decides to change things. wonder, if you take the my myanmar example, did we see a similarly closed government that subtly decides to open it up to the highest bidders? >> that is exactly right. they had consultants from the world bank and other businesses coming in to help them set up. they would not know how to do this themselves necessarily. they had experts come in and advise them as to what is the

best way to create an investor-friendly market. they had their common protections mechanisms, things like requiring a local partner that they have to work through or a cap on foreign ownership. by limiting those things and several other measures, investors know that they can come in or outside mobile operators can come in and do the thing that they do and not worry about some sort of requirements that may reduce their profit potential in the future. >> doug, we appreciate your time. specialist in laying summering cable, so maybe he will be going down to havana sometime soon. harold, thank you for joining us . we appreciate your time. "bottom line" with mark crumpton is coming up at the top of the hour.

mark joins me with a preview. where are you? >> right behind deep it we will continue to follow-up on vladimir putin's annual year-end press conference. out at the united states for russia's economic chaos and the plunge of the ruble. we will be joined from london. and we will go to washington to get analysis from a senior fellow at the brookings institution. i will see you in a few minutes. >> we will be right back with more. ♪

hello, you are looking at san francisco, but we are in new york. i can in for emily chang. this is "bloomberg west." technology is feeling major changes in how we live by making it possible to order coffee, get dressed, and even plan a dinner

party -- all services offered by starbucks -- with ease. day-to-daylace activities or services. see how much time and money was saved. >> i cannot start the day without my caffeine fix. orormally fire up the keurig go to starbucks, but today i'm getting a special delivery from kraft coffee. good morning. why is this better than going to my local starbucks? over 40 states and use hundreds of roasters from around the country. >> the verdict, saved me time, cheaper than my local starbucks, and it showed up at my door. time to get spruced up. it usually takes about half an hour to do my own hair and makeup are today, i'm getting help from the glam squad team. do you think question

like any changes you want to make question mark >> great, i love it. verdict -- it took about as long as when i do my own hair and makeup. the price point was high, but it was very convenient, done right in my home. good thing i already picked out a dress for the runway. rent the runway is a new york-based startup that lets people rent designer dresses at a much lower price. i went online and chose this one after going to the store in flat iron. this will be $50 rental, but it was $250 off the rack. i say that is a good deal. now i am here in the east village, about to take a private cocktail-making class spirit let's meet the bartender. >> welcome. .> let's make some drinks >> let's do it.

that is really good. the verdict -- it did not save me time because i had to look for the class. it did save me a bit of money. $70 is cheaper than the usual $100, but i would not do this type of thing every day. i am back home preparing for a dinner party for a few friends. but i get to skip the grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. i am here with a member of kitchen surfing. beef're making a roast with potatoes in a side of green beans. ♪ the kitchen surfing meal is delicious some of that for $25 a head, i do not know this is right for an everyday night. if i am entertaining, i would consider it. for a normal workday, it might be too pricey.

cheers. >> very well done. that looked like a lot of fun, and the dinner looked delicious. i felt like the dinner seemed cheap, but the dress seems like an expensive thing to do. >> you have to look good every single day. >> that is true. one blazer every day. we're going to kick off the byte, focusing on one number that tells a lot. , the manhattan zip code that amazon will deliver items to you in one hour -- 1000 1. it is down by empire state building. it is where they have their brick-and-mortar store in the city. their testing this out to roll out and potentially other cities. deliverl like they can anything on the island of manhattan in one hour.

much.you very excellent job on the video. that is it or bloomberg ♪ west. ♪ ♪

x from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i'm prompted -- i'm mark crumpton and this is "bottom line" with a main street perspective. to our viewers here in the united states and those of you joining us around the world, welcome stop -- welcome. willem marx will have a bloomberg special report today, "chasing the scammers in latvia. mia saini has the changes in u.s.-cuba relations