welco to "assignment 7". today on our program, from cuba to camelo a former presintial advisor reflects on his role at the whiteouse in the kennedy years. free cell pone service and free tv. "7 on youride" with cost saving options to lower your bills. and we'll introduce yu to ordinary people doing extraordinary things to help sae the environment. we begin with an inside look into john f. kennedy's presidency. tedouthernson was a key advisor and at the prident's side when this nation came to closest its ever been to a nuear war. our chel jennings spoke with him about his reflections from camelot to cuba. >> it is seered in my brain to

this day. >> repoer: ted sorenso speech writer who walked side by side with president kennedy, vividly remembers the frightening time during the cuban missile crisis in 1962. >> no one knew what the right answer was. we ha tried to go through the united nations secretary general. we had tried direct messages between kennedy and khrushchev through a back channel. nothing worke up to that day >> reporter: he says the movie, 13 days, got st of it right. as president kennedy tried to fi a peaceful solution to stop a potential nuclear war. >> the generals thought that the only real way to get rid of the missiles poted at the united states s to bomb them and follow that up with an invasion. if we had done that, you and i wouldn't be sitting he today. >> reporter: a stroke and partial blindness have not dulled the emotions of ted, about a world on the drink of a

nuclear holocaust in october 62. jfk's trust in sorrienson was so high that he asked hi to help bobby kennedy draft a k letter. it was to khrushchev at the most critic point of the first nuear confrontationetween global super powers and it worked. he was just 34. >> during the first year i was a lowly research assistant, but then after one year he asked me to help on the speech. he likedy draft of the speech and afte that, i couldn't get rid of the speech writing job. >> reporter: then, of course, there is the phrase that many quote. >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> ask what you can do for your country. >> reporter: and where did that co from? >> that came from the process of collaborion and the basic feel of kenne's campaign for president. i loved the man, loved the job. and because my parents did bring

me up to care about this country nd this world, i was doing what i wanted most to do. >> reporter: cheryl jennings, a 7 news. >> china is on a spending spree. the country appears fosed on buying silon valley companies, david louis with an inside look at what they're planning to buy and why. >> reporter: the u.s. and china don't always seeye to eye. but there is agreement at this gathering o tech executives and investors at stanford. money that china earned from manufacturing goods for the u.s. is coming back to buy tech sta-ups in silicon valley. >> whether weike it or not, china is coming to us. it's not a queion of going there they're coming here, chinese companies or internet. >> reporter: it's all because of an explosion of mobile phonese in china. 570 millions and growing as shown in this video provided by china in a box. there i a need to create gaming, music download sites and social networking.

ings that silicon valy does ll. >> we're going to be seeing the next i'd say next 12 to 18 months certainly a lot more companies that will be focusing their investment pitches to chinese companies as many of them have already set up branch offices here in the valley. >> reporter: of course, the issue of censorship comes autopsy after google decided to stop blocking search results in china. >> they might be a little bit more controllg over it, more overseeing. at least hp -- they'll probably help us tailor the message better for their local client users. >> reporter: yet google remain has parer, selling ads on a new chinese music site. >> we'll work more closely with google in china on this music service. we still need a lo of help from google. >> reporter: ina is expected to invest $60 billion overseas this year >> the growth of mobile broad band is expected to be staggering, ten years from now, ericcson is predicting there will be 50 billion, that's th

a b, connected devices. at stanford, dad louis, abc 7, moneyscope. >> every parent wants to raise the happiest child theycan, trying to figure out how to change a child's attitude into gratitude. a new book and happiness expert may have the answers. here is theresa garcia. >> reporter: raising hay children is not just an intuitive artful skill. there's a science behind it, too >> we learned anything in 50 yrs on happiness, it's that happiness is best predicted by the strengt of our social ties, our connectis to other people. >> reporter: building social relaonships is just one of many avenues to achieving a hay life, according to uc uc-berkele expert. as a mom herself to two girls, she became compelled to share the sciee side of her work. >> i realized that i was really applying all this great science

anpsychology and sociology to my own panting and that i had a real passion for translating it into practal tips for parents. >> reporter: raising happiness, ten simple steps for more joyful kis and happier parents is a science-based parenting advice book. tips range from how to change your kids' attitude into gratitude to strategies for motivating kids to do boring but necessary tasks. >> all the tips are based on scientic studies, but they're all written about through the lens of a real family. >> reporter: carter shares examples of raising her own young childre and there are lessons to be learned from even simple stuff, like the challenge of teeth brushing or setting the dinner tble, which is why she cusses how to formgood habits one small sp at a time. >> thetrue step was really not putting e entire table, but just having her get the place ma out. >> reporter: mily dinner time is highlhted as one of the most critical actvities for raising happy children.

carter explains that studies show kids who routinely eat dinner with their families get better grades, are more emotionally stable and less likely to become obese. the dinner table is also an ial place for teaching social skills. it a launch pad for learning many manners like listenin to others and saying please and thank you. >> those things hve a very high likelihood of, if you teach them and you practice them with your children, of making you happy and making your children happy, too. >> reporter: theres garcia, abc 7 news. >> coming up, "7 on yo side" wi some ideas to save you money on your bills. freeell phone service, no contract, no monthly fees. and -- >> we looked it and it was like over ten years, that might be $6,000. >> reporter: no cable or satellite dishes. some alternatis that won't some alternatis that won't cost you a dime.

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"7 on your side" has alternatives to help you sa money on your household bills. first, how would you like to make mobile calls for free? michael finney with some answer swers. >> reporter: we are at the borders coffee shop on union square because of this offer. free wi-fi. shing me his new ipad and his ipod touch. he has downloaded an app lled whistle, with a touch of his screen, whistle transforms these internet device nse mobile phones. mobile phones without the monthly bill. >> the iphon touch is my phone without the phone. with whistle t has a phone. yeah. it's a deal! >> yes, it is a deal. >> reporter: and it'snot just whistle. skype, the well-known voice over protocol is into mobile service, too. >> so you can put skype or some other voit calling software on a

smart phone and now it's making calls, but doing it over a wireless intern connection as opposed to a wireless cellular connection. that where you save your money. >> reporter: so how does it sound? listen t this messa from brian over whistle. >> hi, michael, it's brian. calling you on my ipad touch. sounds pretty good. >> sounds good. during ou test, the sound was less than idl. kind of tinny and robotlike. but he says that's the first time he's ever heard it sound like that. >> works at home, works where i work and i haven't had any problems with it so far. >> wi-fi is more mobile, which is not the same as portable. you have to go to where it is. cellular follows you around >> from free mobile phone calls to watching tv without a dime, the average bill runs $70 a month. but there is a way to cut the

cablend keep watching. michael finney shows us how. >> reporter: plato wang has just moved into his new home. what looks different about it? ok up on the roof. a brand-new tv antenna. he and his wife have decided to skicable and sallite. >> we looked at it and it was sometng like over ten years, that might be $6,000. i'd ratr spend that somewhere else. >> reporter: plato is high-tech guy and will eventually stream vie, but so far, he's wowed by over the air tv. >> ias shocked. i'm used to this analog world where maybe there were 20 channels and to see the over the air hd and other offering as there were 70 channels was a surprise. >> rerter: he's not alone. dick baughman is a tv, antenna installer and seeing a boom in work from consumers who are opting for tv without the monthly bill. >> since the digital signal came out, i only had one person ask

me to take it down because there was not enough programming for whahe wanted and that's out of several huned people. >> reporter: it isn't ju over the ai but on-line viewing that's getting a thumbs up. retrievo.com, a reew site, conduct a study on tv viewing patterns. >> we found an overwhelming majority of people in the age group, under 25, where who are very keen "on the red carpet" line tv. , one in three said that they view almost all of their tv on-line. >> let's s you want to catch "castle," will tell you where it plays. abc and h, la. >> reporter: she's with retrievo and showingme clicker.com. >> a site that's kin of like the tv guide of this new tv era. it tells you whe you can watch tv shows, not on tv. she says on-line tv is catching

on with viewers bcause satellite and cable are expensive. >> especially in this economy. ty want to know where they shod be spending their money and i think now adays, with so much content available on-line, people are saying that that's sething they're willing to try at least. >> reporter: he says the problem isn't the cost of the service, bu the market baske consumers are forced to buy. >> people have had it with the bundling and the packaging because the internet and intertive technologies are very specifi you pick what you want, wheyou want it, where you want it. >> reporter: which brings us backo plato and his new digital worl his over the air tv comes with what was once a cable and satellite on feature. a program guide. only this one comes for free. i'm michael finn, "7 on your side". >> michael says this won't work everywhere in the bay area. hills block some signals and some of the channels are broadcast from low power stations. we posted some resources on our

web site, abc7news.com, look under "7 on your side." coming up, the winners of this year's golden prize. the work they're doing around the world to save our planet. plus -- >> what they do is they give you an adjustable focu >> reading asses that let you readjust the focus without readjust the focus without getting a new prescription. ok. what if i just had a small slice? i was good today, i deserve it! or, i could have a medium sle and some celery sticks and they would cancel each other out,ight? or.ok. i could have one large slice and jog in pce as i eat it or...ok.ow about one large slice while jogging in place followed by eight celery... mmm raspberry cheesecake... i have been inking about this all day. wow, and you've lost weight! oh yh, you'reelcome. thank you! [ male announcer ] yoplait light. with 30 delicious flavors l around 100 calories each. yoplait. it is so good.

the goldman environmental prize the green mob prize. one of the world's most prestious awards for protecting the planet. dan ashle introduces us to six ordinary people around the world o are taking extraordinary action. the winners of the goldman environmental prizecome prosecute all over the world, protecting animal, wilderss animals andhose who dependn

things around the world. the chance to spread t word is a big benefit that comes with the prize. >> the recognition and the credibility are really impornt because i think it does give them a voe, a much louder voice and a more reected voice. >> reporter: tory is working to stop the conflict between peop and elephants i cambodia. she spent years teaching farmers how to stop elephants from raiding their crops without hurng the animals. he ao helped bring schoo to rural villes where the curriculum inudes the importance of wildlife. >> one day per week the teacher has to mention about elephant conservaon. >> reporter: this man ishe first goldman winne from cuba. cuban farms were i crisis because they depended on chemical fertilizer and pesticides from the soet union. when th ussr collapsed, the chemicals stopped coming and there was a serious food

shortage. he worked with a team to create sustainable organic agriculture. the farmers experimented and found a wide variety of crops that grow well without chemicals. >> the yield has been multiplied, sometimes two or three times. >> reporter: the prize the united states also went to a farmer, lynn henning, from michigan. henning is pushin for better relation of large scale animal feed lots, like te ones that move near her farm. the animals are kept in confined spaces with no natural vegetation. henningegan monitoring water near the lots and was horrified by what she found. >> we have discrges of animal waste into the waterways that we're getting bloodworms, that were getting hi phosphorous readings. >> reporter: michiga eventually issued hundred of citations against the feed lo and with henning leading the charge, a statewide committee is doing its first er environmental impact report on feed lots. in africa, the prize gs to a

woman who is tryin to make sure that all peop get a say in wh happens to natural resource. she is swaziland's only public interest environmental attorney and won a case to try t balance the rights of the owners of big private game parks and the poverty ricken villages that surround them. >> environmental resoues are supposed to be for everyone's benefit. >> reporter: the european winner is this polish woman who led the fight to protect one of her country's last true wilderness areas. the government was clearing the land to build a major highway project. she created a national campai to save it. after years of court battle the "urinetown" ford the -- the europn union positioned them to choose anotheroute. this man is getting recognition for his stories proct sharks. 100 million sharks a yearre killed for fins. nservationists say the fishing

methods are cruel and wasteful. >> they cut t fins off and thow the bloody and sometimes still alive body back into the sea. >> reporter: costa rica is one of the largest exporters of shark products. he led a successful campaign to ban shark finning i that country. >> people have started feeling sympathy for sharks and something had to be done. >> dan ashley, abc new >> the lenses in our eyes lose their ability to focus around middle age and for many folks, that means reading glasses or bifocals. w there is an alternative. carolyn johnson has the story. >> reporter: if youear reading glasses, you probably spend a fair amount of time taking them on and off. but what if a pair of glasses could t you litelly refocus on the fly? >> these are amazg. what they do is give you an adjustable focus. >> reporter: this doctor has begun fitting patients at his clinic with true focals. the glasses look like sometng out of inspector damage jet, but

they have a le controlled by a moveable bar at the bridge. >> the way you change the focus isake the bar and move it from right to left. >> reporter: that touch focus design let's this patient read the same page at varied dtances. >> reay things are in good focus. >> reporter: true fcals consist of two lenses, one firm and the other flexible andilled with a clear fluid. the slide changes the pressure on that second lens. >> what it does is actually change the, as i said, changes the swelling of the lens. by changing the bar essential changes the curvature of the ns, which is how you change the focus. >> reporter: true focals may have launched evolution in the way people use their eyeglasses andhey'll soon have competion. another company plans to release glasses next year that adjust focus electronically. the prototyp in this animation created by the nufacturer employs a battery system that shifts the focus when the wearer looks up or down. they can be controlled manual

legal by touching the fre. >> this is very hot area, a lot of dferent companes are very interested in doing it. you will start seeing more of these glasses cing out in the near future. >> reporter: some doctors believe the technologiecould have benefits for conditions ke stigmatism and macular degeneration. fonow the main market is middle aged patients like hristian who suffer from the comm loss of the eye's ability to shift focus as we age. >> having something with an adjustable focal leng, which is where you're going, it's a wonderfulhing to have. >> reporter: carolyn johnson, abc 7 news. >> technology isn't chea the trueocals retail for just under $400. the electroniversion due out next year is expected to cost more than $1,000 per pair. when weome back, the mysteries cultures of ancient mongolia,

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gengis khan has was a misunderstood conquerors. a exhibit isat the th museum. ts and entertainment reporter don canch gives us a look. >> reporter: mongian singing, an anent art, perhaps from the time of gengskhan. this is called the exhibition. treasures from his time in the 13th century. and a look into part of e world that remain has mystery. >> look at the mongolian culture, which is the sa as it was then and it's great traditions of a nomad people, they're still preserved here. >> reporter: this is traditional housing. it's secure, lightweight and portable. an would create the largest empir the world has ever seen. the exhibit presents some of their rare recs from his reign. the image we havis that of a

warrior whose operative wordwas conquest. this eibit shows another side of him. that of an innovar. look what he created. >> he's the reason we have a post office, pony express and libraries, and paper money. and hamburgers and pants. so we don't give this guy near the credit he ought to get. >> there is the intrigue and the murders, but risingbove all of that, you see this man who has a concept o humanity, who is a civil person. >> reporter: t exhibit comes from five museums and there constant digging for new artifacts. this mummy was recently unearthed. th search goes on for his burial site. some thing it could be filled with treasures. >> it's a simple guy >> the exhibits here through the summer. in san jose, don sanchez, abc 7 news. >> if you wou like more information on the storie on our program today, go to our web sit abc7news.com and look under the news links on the left side for "assignnt 7".

that's all for this edition of "assignment 7". i'm eric thomas. thank you for joining us. we'll see you next time.

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