Features

A new addition to Opel’s mid-size Insignia saloon and estate, the Country Tourer is a raised four-wheel drive estate version, designed for the sort of modest off-road ability one might require in real world driving. 

In current parlance one might call the Country Tourer a crossover, but its adaptive four-wheel drive system might well in fact give it an edge over many aesthetically SUV-flavoured vehicles. 

With the handling, efficiency and practicality benefits of a car and some SUV ability, the Country Tourer owes more in spirit to the original segment-bending estate-SUV — the 1980 AMC Eagle Station Wagon — than to fashionable contemporary crossovers. 

Robust design

Ahead of its time, the Eagle belatedly inspired a host of similar vehicles, from the 1994 Subaru Legacy Outback, the late 1990s Volvo Cross Country/XC70 and Audi A6 Allroad and now the Opel Insignia Cross Country.

With a visible protective guard plate under the engine compartment, lower bumper section and black lower cladding and wheel-arch surrounds to emphasise and project a rugged potential, the Cross Country sits slightly higher for better ground clearance and a modestly improved approach, break-over and departure that would be of use over broken, uneven and rough tarmac, dirt roads and slopes.

Well complimenting the Insignia’s face-lifted refresh, the Cross Country’s green launch colour also seems to underline its adventurous off-road flavour.

The Country Tourer’s tight design lines and well-integrated shape are both aerodynamically smooth and emanate a tough and solid presence, as if it is hewn from granite. Complimenting the Country Tourer’s increase ride height, a prominent chrome grille slat and chrome line across the rear fascia emphasise width, while a gently sloping roofline leads to a large powered clamshell tailgate.

An L-shape flank crease, large 245/45R19 footwear and a small tailgate spoiler add sporting flavour. Busy but logical inside, the Country Tourer’s cabin feels similarly well-constructed and robustly but luxuriously appointed, from pleasant dash and console textures, thick meaty sports steering wheel and rich but durable-feeling brown leather upholstery.

Mid-range muscle

Driven by a prodigiously powerful turbocharged direct injection two-litre four-cylinder engine the Insignia Country Tourer 2.0 SIDI develops 247BHP at 4,500rpm and a massively muscular 295lb/ft torque throughout 2,500-4,500rpm. With manual gearbox as tested, the Country Tourer can shift its not inconsiderable 1,843 heft from standstill to 100km/h in just 7.9-seconds and onto 235km/h.

Considering its weight, height and power, the Country Tourer’s 8.1L/100km fuel efficiency and 189g/km carbon dioxide emissions are quite admirably frugal. Smooth, refined and well insulated, the Country Tourer’s turbocharged engine spools up briskly — after slight turbo-lag from idle — and as a relatively low-revving unit, is at its best at mid-range engine speeds.

In its comfort zone throughout its muscular mid-range, there’s not much point in revving the Country Tourer mercilessly hard, as there’s ample urge and torque on tap lower down the range.

Effortlessly flexible through its upper mid-range sweetspot, the Country Tourer’s on-the-move acceleration is versatile, with 80-120km/h delivered in 8.5-seconds. Driven on derestricted segments of the Autobahn during its Frankfurt global launch, the Country Tourer pushed through to speeds approaching 200km/h with indefatigable ease owing to its generous twisting force.

With a light clutch and somewhat long but accurate shifter, the Country Tourer’s six-speed manual gearbox is user-friendly and offers more driver involvement, reward and control than an automatic gearbox.

Autobahn ability

With typically reassuring and planted high speed ride traditionally associated with larger Opels, the Country Tourer felt stable, smooth, comfortable and at home on Germany’s speed limitless highways. Somewhat more detached than its regular Insignia saloon and high performance OPC Sports Tourer sister models, the Counry Tourer felt like a larger, more comfortable and indulgent car.

Taking lumps, bumps and imperfections in its stride despite rather low profile tires and huge alloy wheels, the Country Tourer rides comfortably and smoothly, with its suspension taking the edge off rougher road segments and providing buttoned down vertical control when rebounding from sudden undulations. Inside, occupants enjoy excellent levels of cabin refinement.

Taller than other Insignia models the Country Tourer perhaps leans slightly more through corners, but its three-mode adaptive dampers do a brilliant job of keeping the body lean and weight transfer in check. Turning in tidily and gripping tenaciously through corners owing to its wide tyres, long wheelbase and adaptive four-wheel drive, the Country Tourer’s steering is well-weighted, accurate and tuned for comfort and stability, rather than textured feel and feedback.

In addition to effective ventilated disc ABS brakes, the Country Tourer also features electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist. Available safety systems include traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, and blindspot, lane change, rear cross-traffic, forward collision and lane departure warnings.

Rugged and refined

With its Haldex four-wheel drive system able to adaptively reallocate up to 100 per cent power front or rear and an electronically controlled limited-slip rear-differential doing the same on the rear axle, the Country Tourer provides excellent levels of traction on wet tarmac and in off-road environments. Able to keep moving even if only one wheel has traction, the Country Tourer may not be a fully fledged off-roader but its ability is genuine. 

A utilitarian workhorse, the Country Tourer features 750kg unbraked towing and 547kg payload capacities. Beyond its wide powered clamshell tailgate, the Country Tourer luggage volume expands from 540- to 1,530-litres. Under-floor storage compartments and sliding boot floor are also practical.

Well-appointed and finished, the Country Tourer’s cabin comfortably seats large occupants and features supportive, well-adjustable and ergonomic seats with lumbar support and active headrests. Extensively kitted, the Country Tourer features a Bose sound system with up to nine speakers, and USB, Bluetooth and smartphone connectivity.

Convenience kit includes parking assistance and front and rear cameras, keyless entry, parking distance assistance, heated steering wheel, dual-zone climate control and independent remote and timer activated heating. Adaptive dampers alter ride quality for comfort or handling, while the safety kit includes front multi-stage airbags, side and curtain airbags front and rear, adaptive lighting with high beam assist, Isofix child seat latches and other features.

Technical specifications

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 86 x 86mm

Compression ratio: 9.5:1

Valve train: 16 valve, DOHC, variable valve timing, direct injection

Gearbox: 6 speed manual

Drive train: four-wheel drive, electronic limited-slip differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 247 (250) [184] @ 4,500rpm

Specific power: 123.6BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 134BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 295 (400) @ 2,500-4,500rpm

Specific torque: 200.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 217Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 7.9-seconds

80-120km/h, fifth gear: 8.5-seconds

Top speed: 235km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 10.6-/6.6-/8.1-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 189g/km

Fuel capacity: 70 litres

Length: 4,920mm

Width: 1,858mm

Height: 1,526mm

Wheelbase: 2,737mm

Track, F/R: 1,587/1,590mm

Kerb weight: 1,843kg

Luggage, min/max: 540/1,530-litres

Payload: 547kg

Trailer towing, un-braked: 750kg

Steering: Variable assistance, rack & pinion

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link, adaptive dampers

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres: 245/45R19

SAN FRANCISCO — Google and Apple on Thursday said they are hardening encryption tactics on devices powered by their mobile operating systems and tossing away the keys.

The move should mean that even the government with its court-issued warrants will be blocked from getting ahold of pictures, messages and other personal data stored on forthcoming Android or Apple smartphones and tablets.

Google and Apple are among Internet titans intent on firming up trust shaken by revelations of massive online spying by US officials and by the recent hacking of celebrity iCloud accounts that exposed nude photos.

A Google spokesman told AFP that encryption is already offered for the Android system on smartphones and tablets, but will be turned on automatically in the upcoming version of their software.

“For over three years Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won’t even have to think about turning it on.”

Google has not said when the next update of Android is due for release.

Apple announced that its new encryption is built into the iOS 8 operating system available on the iPhone 6, which went on sale Friday. It also can be installed on many existing iPhones and iPads.

Apple is essentially allowing people to lock iPhones, iPads or iPods using encrypted passwords without giving itself any keys.

“Your personal data such as photos, messages [including attachments], e-mail, contacts, call history, iTunes content, notes, and reminders, is placed under the protection of your passcode,” says the new policy on Apple’s website.

“Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data. So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running
iOS 8.”

Internet spying scandal

Leaked documents from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have highlighted concerns about the role of major tech firms in government spying programmes.

Internet titans including Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo and Google have been campaigning for the freedom to let people know more about requests made under the auspices of anti-terrorism law that mandates such queries be kept secret.

Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook said the company is dedicated to protection of personal data and that security at iCloud was beefed up after photos stored online were pilfered from celebrity accounts.

The Cupertino, California-based company insisted there was no breach of its cloud storage system, but that hackers used “targeted attacks” aimed at celebrities.

An Apple statement suggested that the celebrities had their accounts hacked by using easy-to-guess passwords, or by giving up their personal data to cybercriminals posing as Apple, a technique known as “phishing”.

Companies say they are required to comply as best they can with legitimate court orders and other legal requests, but fight for people’s privacy along the way.

“We have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will,” Cook said.

Privacy activists praise the effort and hope more Internet firms will follow suit.

“This is very awesome for privacy,” Joseph Hall, chief technologist at the Washington-based Centre for Democracy and Technology, said of Apple encrypting passwords.

“This is an important assurance for people. It’s not security just some of the time, it’s security all of the time.”

Hall added that the move is “good for the industry because there is a real deficit of trust” after the celebrity photo hacking.

Outstanding issues

Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, said it was “good news for Internet users”.

But Rotenberg said other privacy issues still need to be addressed, notably how Apple handles personal data for its HealthKit system for fitness monitoring.

“The issue is the flow of user data to the app developers,” Rotenberg told AFP. “Apple has created a platform that can allow for the transfer of sensitive medical data.”

Jeffrey Chester at the Centre for Digital Democracy also expressed caution.

“Apple at the moment is serving as a data collection ‘middleman,’ as it builds a new business as a financial and health data supplier,” Chester said.

That Smell and Notes from Prison

Sonallah Ibrahim

Edited and Translated by Robyn Creswell

New York: New Directions Books, 2013

Pp. 109

This is a new translation of Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim’s ground-breaking novel, “That Smell”, which was first published in Arabic in 1966, immediately banned and dismissed by at least one prominent Egyptian literary critic for the “vulgarity” of its physiological descriptions. Meanwhile, the censors seemed most concerned that the protagonist appeared to be impotent. One would think from these attacks that the novel dwells on sex but that is not the case. “That Smell” is a first-person narration of how a man passes his days after being released from prison, but still under house arrest, based on Ibrahim’s own experience. The overwhelming impression he conveys is one of banality: nothing seems to matter much. “People walked and talked and acted as if I’d always been there with them and nothing had happened.” (p. 19)

A previous English translation of “That Smell” was included in a 1971 collection of stories, but Robyn Creswell, literary editor and professor of comparative literature, felt that a new translation was called for because the first one was too polished. Creswell wanted to replicate Ibrahim’s innovative style of simply recording raw impressions and happenings without commentary. Ibrahim called it “telegraphic style” and was greatly influenced by Ernest Hemingway’s idea of getting close to reality by pared-down description rather than expression of feelings (though the former thankfully avoided the latter’s machismo). According to Creswell, the novel’s narrator “has the impassivity of a trauma victim: he sees and hears and reports, but makes no claim to understand”. (p. 3)

The question of style is crucial because “That Smell” is considered groundbreaking mainly because of its raw minimalism and common language that breaks with Arabic literary norms. From that time, fifty years ago, Ibrahim felt that a politically committed writer must be experimental, in order to expose the shallowness and stagnation forced on people by regime repression. Since then, his pioneering role has been widely recognised by other Egyptian writers, such as Yousef Idriss who called “That Smell” “a revolution, the beginning of which is the author’s rebellion against himself”. 

As for content, most noticeable is what is omitted. Knowing that the protagonist of “That Smell” was a political prisoner (Ibrahim was jailed for being a communist), one is surprised that there is no mention of politics--only daily routines, visits to friends and relatives, gossip, etc. But this is the point, the hidden social critique. When free expression is outlawed, when people are not engaged in improving their society, life loses meaning. The only thematic thread in the story is the narrator’s repeated attempts to write, which never amount to anything. If there is a question of impotence in the story, it is this.

Since what is left unsaid is the crucial point in “That Smell”, Creswell’s introduction is highly useful as it explains the political context in which Ibrahim was writing. Equally important is the inclusion of Ibrahim’s own introduction to the novel when it was finally republished in its entirety in Cairo in 1986. Here he defends the “ugliness” of his physiological descriptions as being warranted by the ugliness of visceral realities such as torture. He also sets out his guiding principles: “Self-criticism, an attention to the interior voice, recognition of the real, an impatience with bourgeois sensitivities and fads — all these continue to be at the basis of my work.” (p. 74)

The novel is complemented by excerpts from Ibrahim’s prison diary recorded in 1962-64 and rewritten on cigarette papers in order to be smuggled out of the jail. These notes reveal his search for a new way of writing, his views on the artist’s role in society, and his reactions to the literary and political trends of the times that the prisoners managed to follow via various publications smuggled into the prison. They are a shorthand account of the influences on his thinking and work, from the Soviet poet, Yevtushenko, to fellow Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz.

In “That Smell”, one discovers the seeds of Ibrahim’s later writing, especially the full-blown novel, “Zaat”, which also relies on the interior voice and stark descriptions of everyday reality, but explicitly interjects the political causes of people’s malaise. This small volume adds greatly to an understanding of the development of modern Egyptian fiction and especially that of one of its foremost proponents and undisputed political conscience, Sonallah Ibrahim.

NEW YORK — Data breaches at retailers aren’t going away but there are ways consumers can protect themselves from future heists of their payment card information.

Home Depot said Thursday that malicious software lurking in its check-out terminals between April and September affected 56 million debit and credit cards that customers swiped at its stores. Target, Michaels and Neiman Marcus have also been attacked by hackers in the past year.

More breaches are likely. The Department of Homeland Security Department warned last month that more than 1,000 retailers could have malware in their cash-register computers.

Consider another way to pay

Try newer ways to pay, such as PayPal or Apple Pay. “Any technology that avoids you having your credit card in your hand in a store is safer,” says Craig Young, security researcher for software maker Tripwire. Those services store your credit card information and it’s not given to the retailer when you make a payment. Many big retailers, including Home Depot, accept PayPal at their stores, but many others don’t. Apple Pay, which was only introduced this month, has even more limitations: It is available in just a small number of stores so far and only people with an iPhone 6 can use it.

Stored-value cards or apps, such as the ones used at coffee chains Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, are also a safer bet, says Gartner security analyst Avivah Litan. That’s because they don’t expose credit card information at the register.

Sign it, don’t pin it

If you’re planning on paying with a debit card, sign for your purchase instead of typing in your personal identification number at the cash register. You can do this by asking the cashier to process the card as a credit card or select credit card on the display. Not entering your PIN into a keypad will help reduce the chances of a hacker stealing that number too, Young says. Crooks can do more damage with your PIN, possibly printing a copy of the card and taking money out of an ATM, he says. During Target’s breach last year, the discount retailer said hackers gained access to customers’ PINs. Home Depot, however, said there was no indication that PINs were compromised in the breach at its stores.

Beware of e-mail scammers

After big data breaches are exposed, and get a lot of media attention, scammers come out of the woodwork looking to steal personal information. Some e-mails may mention Home Depot or offer free credit monitoring, but you should never click on the links. Many are for fake sites that try to steal bank information or passwords. “Avoid these entirely,” Young says. If an e-mail looks credible, go to Home Depot’s site directly instead of clicking on links.

Keep up with statements

Scan credit card statements every month for any unauthorised charges. And keep an eye out for smaller charges. Thieves will charge smaller amounts to test to see if you notice and then charge a larger amount later, Litan says. They may also steal a small amount from millions of accounts, scoring a big payday, she says.

And check your credit report for any accounts that crooks may have opened in your name. 

Go old school

Use cash. When possible, the safest bet is to not swipe a card at all. Even if security gets stronger at stores, hackers are likely to figure out a way around it. “It’s always a cat and mouse game,” Young says.

SAN FRANCISCO — Tycoon yachtsman Larry Ellison on Thursday stepped down as Oracle’s chief executive, trusting a pair of lieutenants to steer the titanic business software firm he helped launch decades ago.

Ellison, whose team made yachting history with a phenomenal come-from-behind triumph in the America’s Cup race in San Francisco last year, will remain a pivotal figure at Oracle as chief technology officer and executive chairman of the board.

Ellison, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals thanks to the technology company he co-founded in 1977, last month turned 70.

He will be replaced as Oracle CEO by in-house executives Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, who had previously reported to Ellison. Now they will report directly to the board.

“The three of us have been working well together for the last several years and we plan to continue working together for the foreseeable future,” Ellison said in a press release.

“Keeping this management team in place has always been a top priority of mine.”

Ellison built California-based Oracle into a money-making colossus specialising in software, services and hardware to meet computing needs of business operations.

Forbes magazine estimates his net worth at $51.3 billion, making him the fifth-richest person in the world.

“Larry has made it very clear that he wants to keep working full time and focus his energy on product engineering, technology development and strategy,” Oracle board presiding director Michael Boskin said.

“Safra and Mark are exceptional executives who have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to lead, manage and grow the company.”

Oracle hired Hurd about four years ago after he resigned as chief executive at computer maker Hewlett-Packard over a scandal regarding his relationship with a former marketing contractor.

Ellison publicly skewered HP for losing Hurd and quickly signed him onto Oracle’s executive crew.

“The directors are thrilled that the best senior executive team in the industry will continue to move the company forward into a bright future,” Boskin said.

 Invigorating Oracle

Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels saw the shift in roles as making official the management dynamics that had been in place for several years.

“It is like a formal recognition of the working relationship that has been going on for the past three years anyway,” Bartels said.

“Since it came out on the same day Oracle reported what could be seen as pretty weak earnings, it could be intended to show a reinvigoration of the leadership team.”

Oracle reported that profit was essentially flat in the recently ended quarter, with the company logging net income of $2.19 billion on revenue that climbed three per cent to $8.6 billion.

The earnings fell shy of Wall Street expectations.

“Oracle is underperforming compared to SAP or IBM,” Bartels said. “Part of that is due to a very large portfolio of acquired companies that is undigested and they are paying for that.”

A trend of businesses turning to software offered as services in the Internet cloud is also working against Oracle, whose mainstays remain storage, services and licensed software for systems maintained by companies.

Revenue from Oracle cloud-related offerings jumped, while money brought in from selling hardware or licensing software dropped, according to earnings figures.

“There is clearly a transition in the tech industry away from servers and storage and licensed on-premise software, and into the cloud,” Bartels said.

“It is hard for Oracle to quickly build up cloud revenues.”

NEW YORK — The scores of new features in Apple’s software update for mobile devices can be boiled down to one word: unity.

Many iPhone owners also have iPads and Mac computers, and family members are likely to have Apple devices, too. With the new iOS 8 software for iPhones and iPads, those devices start to act like one. Apps on those devices start to unite, too.

Google’s Android software can’t compete with iOS’ evolving unity because so many different companies manufacture Android devices, and each adds its own variables. Apple knows what goes into the few products it makes and can break down the walls between them.

The free update is available to owners of iPhone and iPad models going back to 2011, though older devices won’t get all the new features. The new software will also come with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which come out Friday.

Here’s a look at those “unity” features — and why iOS 8 is worth installing:

You can start tasks on one device and finish on another.

Let’s say you’re typing an e-mail reply on your iPhone when you realise the message will be quite lengthy. You can pick up your iPad and finish there. With the upcoming Yosemite update for Mac computers, likely coming next month, you’ll be able to use the Mac’s physical keyboard, too.

Picking up a task on a second device is easy. Just slide up the small app icon on that device’s lock screen, be it an iPhone or an iPad. On Macs with Yosemite, click the icon on the bottom left.

For now, this capability is limited to a handful of apps, including Apple’s Maps, Calendar, Mail, Messages and the Safari Web browser. And when you try to open a Web page on a second device, you still have to scroll down to where you were. With Maps, on the other hand, it takes me to the location I was viewing on the other device.

This feature, known as Handoff, will be more useful once outside developers take advantage of it. LG and Samsung have offered similar integration of their phones and tablets, but neither does it as extensively.

You’ll be able to use your iPad or Mac to send texts or make phone calls.

Currently, you can send text-like messages from iPads and Macs with the Messages app, but the recipient also needs Messages. That excludes Android users. With iOS 8, those iPad and Mac messages will get relayed through the iPhone, so you can reach any other phone. The texting capabilities won’t be coming until next month, though.

What you can do now is use the iPad and the Mac to make and receive calls. The devices have to be on the same Wi-Fi network, so this won’t help if you left your phone at work. But it’s useful if the phone is charging in another room. Call quality was about what I’d expect from a speakerphone.

You’ll be able to do more without switching from app to app.

If a text message comes in as you’re browsing the Web, you can pull down the notification and reply right there. You don’t need to leave the Web browser and launch Messages first. You can also delete an e-mail or accept a calendar invite that way.

There are some limitations, though: You get only one reply for text messages. You then have to wait for another message to come in or open the full app. With e-mail, you can mark a message as read or delete it, but you can’t reply. Like Handoff, this will be more useful once more apps take advantage of it and let you do more.

Meanwhile, if you’re chatting with a bunch of friends, you can see their locations (as long as they’ve shared it) without having to leave Messages to open a separate Find My Friends app.

Members of the same households can share calendars and music more easily.

You pick up to five family members to join your network, for a total of six. These need to be people you trust, as they’ll be using your credit card to make purchases. You can require approval for purchases, such as for kids’ accounts.

Family members will be able to share each other’s books, music, video and apps, so Mom, Dad and Junior won’t need to buy separate copies of the “Frozen” movie. A family calendar and a shared photo album also get set up. The individual still gets to decide which photos and videos show up there for other family members to see.

Internet and computer technology combined have killed or are on their way to killing a few of our habits and skills, if not completely at least to a significant extent.

Snail mail has decreased some 85 per cent in the last 15 years. To listen to music we rarely insert any recorded media in a player but prefer online audio streaming and music saved on hard disk or in the memory of one of the many portable devices around. Photographs are enjoyed on a screen much more than on paper, and of course, printing in general is not in fashion anymore. Is handwriting the next “victim” of digital high-tech?

At the bank the other day, and to complete a set of formalities I had started, I had to supply the management with a formal statement in the form of a letter. To save time, instead of going back to the office to type the letter using a computer and then print it out, I decided to write it, manually, while still there, to sign it and to give it to the clerk who said it was perfectly acceptable that way.

It was not a long statement, perhaps four or five paragraphs, some 250 words or so. Yet, upon finishing it I almost had a cramp in my hand. I haven’t handwritten like that for a long time. I was surprised, shocked. It sent me wondering.

Looking at the way schoolchildren write today, at the poor quality of their handwriting, one cannot but ask where the fine art of calligraphy has gone. The kids are hardly to blame. Surrounded by a variety of digital devices fitted with touchscreens and by regular computers with physical keyboards attached, the young hardly need to handwrite these days. And the habit kicks in at ages as young as seven or eight, as early as they learn to “write” at school. I see it all the time.

After all when all the digital tools around you, including speech-to-text recognition, allow you to generate text of all kinds without handwriting, why wouldn’t you give up the skill? Why should you learn it at all?

Without any doubt there’s a dramatic decrease in the amount of text we handwrite. In the office the pen is merely here for signature or very short memos quickly jolted on a post-it note.

For a few years now scholars have been studying the effects, hypothetical or real, of the change in our reading habits. We read more and more online or with e-books, and less with hard copy printed books. Handwriting is following the same path, and no one can foretell if it’s going to be a good or a bad thing. This is just how it is.

Handwriting, however, has implications that go beyond simple communication and text transmission; it bears and conveys the traits of our character, of any artistic talent or aptitude we may have. In itself, one person’s handwriting is equivalent to her or his signature. Graphology isn’t here for nothing, after all.

It is very likely that one day soon handwriting will stop being as common as it is today, or as it was yesterday should I say. It could become what physical exercise has become. It used to be natural, part of the daily life — not anymore. Today you have to take the time to go to the gym to exercise, to walk on treadmills instead of amidst natural landscape: in other words to find artificial ways to replace the natural ones.

Soon you may have to apologise for not being able to meet a friend because you have to do your weekly handwriting exercise in the evening.

Electronics company Logitech is best known for creating accessories to bolster a personal computer or tablet. Now, the company wants to collaborate on a video game project with players assisting in the development.

Logitech launched “Together We Game”, a crowdsourced video game project where players contribute to the development of a video game launching next January on the Steam marketplace for PCs and Apple’s App Store.

The process will start with a thread on Reddit, where players can share their ideas on the game’s overall theme and other features. After going through a voting process on Reddit, features will be open to a second vote hosted by Logitech over the course of the next five months before the game launches in January.

Ehtisham Rabbani, Logitech’s chief marketing officer, says the company wanted to give its consumers a chance to share their creativity.

“Games are increasingly how we express ourselves, and they act as that space we retreat to to challenge ourselves, connect with friends and to just get some ‘me time’,” said Rabbani. “This is going to be such a fun and inspiring development process.”

Frank Lantz, director of the New York University Game Lab, will join members of the studio Tiny Mantis in developing the game based on approved elements.

The project will result in a tower-defence game, where players must eliminate waves of enemies by placing objects such as turrets or other gear to slow their progress. Lantz says accessibility and a specific focus on one genre helped make a tower-defence title the proper fit for this project.

“Given our limited time-frame, we don’t want to spend time and resources on complex 3-D environments, cut-scenes, and other forms of linear content,” said Lantz. “The scope of a tower defence type game will allow us to focus on gameplay and create a solid, finished, polished game within our schedule.

“Tower defence gameplay was invented by people making and sharing maps and mods of StarCraft and WarCraft on Blizzard’s Battle.net. Now we are bringing that tradition full circle.”

PARIS — Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” are losing their yellow cheer and the unsettling apricot horizon in Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” is turning a dull ivory.

Some of our most treasured paintings are fading, warn experts who would like more money for the use of sophisticated technology to capture the masters’ original palettes before the works are unrecognisably blighted.

“Our cultural heritage is suffering from a disease,” Robert van Langh, director of conservation and restoration at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, told AFP in Paris this week.

“These priceless icons of our culture are deteriorating,” he said. And the amount spent on conserving them “should be multiplied by ten”.

Van Langh was speaking on the sidelines of a conference on the use of synchrotron radiation technology in art conservation at the molecular level.

Synchrotrons, stadium-sized machines that produce beams of bright X-ray light, are used to analyse the chemical degradation of famous artworks gracing the museums of the world.

Much more science is needed to understand the chemical reactions that cause colour changes in canvases, in order to stop them, said Jennifer Mass, an art conservationist from Winterthur Museum in Delaware, who also attended the meeting.

“There are heaps of researchers ready to do this work, but very little money.”

Understanding the degenerative process would allow museums to display the precious works in the appropriate light, atmosphere and humidity.

But technology would also allow “digital reconstruction” of original pieces, as they were envisaged by their creators, for posterity.

“The goal is more preservation than restoration,” said Mass, adding that restorers would only in very rare cases touch up the original work of an artist. 

Fading like a flower

Experts already know that the iconic still life “Sunflowers” is browner today than when van Gogh captured it on canvas in 1888.

It turns out the Dutch impressionist painter had opted for industrial pigments, then new on the market, for his yellows, according to Belgian chemist Koen Janssens of the University of Antwerp.

Exposed to air, the yellow in cadmium, also used by Munch for his 1910 work “The Scream”, loses its brightness, while ultraviolet light — as from the Sun — turns it brown.

Janssens has also worked on van Gogh’s famous “Flowers in a Blue Vase”, which has suffered a similar fate but for a different reason.

In this case, it was a varnish applied after the artist’s death that became cracked and faded over time, obscuring the picture underneath.

Synthetic pigments like cadmium yellow, emerald green and zinc yellow — some of which can start losing their depth of colour in only 20 years — were also popular among other impressionists of the 19th century and painters of the early 20th like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

The works from this period are therefore more at risk of fading than those by the ancient masters, said Mass.

They are not exempt, though — for his blue hues the 17th century’s Rembrandt van Rijn used smalt, a type of ground-up glass with a tendency to turn grey over time.

According to Janssens, a further role of science could be to beat the drum for art conservation.

“As researchers, we are working on a simulation that will allow us to show what certain artworks will look like in 50 years,” if nothing is done, he said.

“If we don’t act, future generations will not see these artworks in the same way that we are,” warned van Langh.

Huge rambling mansions remind me of the days of my childhood. The bungalows we lived in had more rooms than inhabitants. The British had them built, during the Raj, and after independence, native officers inherited those dwellings. My father was one of them. 

But by the time we moved in, the fireplaces, all several of them, had developed cracks, and there were gaps in the ceiling, from which rainwater would trickle onto my mum’s expensive carpets. They were not actually so costly, now that I think about it. Those rugs on the ground, that is. It is just that on a government employee’s salary, she would painstakingly save money for many months, in order to buy these small luxuries. And once she purchased them, they acquired the status of family heirlooms. 

And the house rules, ah the house rules! We could not walk on them with muddy shoes, dirty sandals or wet slippers. In fact, it was safest to keep a secure distance, and generally tiptoe around gingerly, on silent feet. 

So you can imagine the ruckus that was caused in my home, every time raindrops had the audacity to fall on these floor coverings. There would be chaos universally, even if it were the middle of the night, with frenetic activity involving plastic sheets, mops and buckets. 

Everyone would emerge from his or her room to take part in this rescue mission. And we had plenty of those, like I said before, some of them locked up because of non-occupancy. Other than the dining, drawing, living, sleeping, lounging, bathin grooms and kitchen, we had several guest rooms too. 

There is a cheeky word in my mother tongue Hindi, which is called, “faltu”. Its exact translation is, “unwanted”. I know it has a somewhat negative connotation, but our domestic staff would have no qualms about using the term. 

If a guest walked in unexpectedly, they would announce, “Faltu Sahib is here,” without batting an eyelid. They would then proceed to ask if they should prepare the “unwanted room” for the “unwanted visitor”. 

Even as a child, I would become embarrassed at such blatantly rude references to our poor unsuspecting callers. But these domestics, trained by their erstwhile employers, were simply immune to my pleadings. 

When I got married, for the initial decade or so, I lived in flats, where a couple of rooms were all we had. And so there was no point in earmarking anything with specific designations. Then we moved to a huge villa where, after allocating the usual quarters, we still had three extra guest compartments. One I turned into my study, but the other two were crying out for a name. 

Khanna Aunty was our first visitor here. An elegantly grey haired, wonderful lady, she arrived from Delhi, to celebrate her seventieth birthday with us. I loved her company and promptly christened the chamber she was staying in, as Khanna Aunty’s room. It helped to distinguish from the other parts of the house, and there was less confusion all around. 

Next, we were relocated to Jordan. As the packers unloaded the boxes I saw several pieces marked as Aunt K, in bold ink. 

“These will go into Auntie’s room,” declared one burly un-packer.

“Which one?” I asked. 

“You don’t know your own Aunty?” he was horrified. 

“She does not live here,” I clarified. 

“Why not?” he queried. 

“Never mind! At least Khanna Aunty’s room travels with us, just put it there,” I directed.