Features

By Glenn Chapman
Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO — Using a raised eyebrow or smile, people with speech or physical disabilities can now operate their Android-powered smartphones hands-free, Google said on Thursday. 

Two new tools put machine learning and front-facing cameras on smartphones to work detecting face and eye movements.

Users can scan their phone screen and select a task by smiling, raising eyebrows, opening their mouth, or looking to the left, right or up.

“To make Android more accessible for everyone, we’re launching new tools that make it easier to control your phone and communicate using facial gestures,” Google said.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 61 million adults in the United States live with disabilities, which has pushed Google and rivals Apple and Microsoft to make products and services more accessible to them.

“Every day, people use voice commands, like ‘Hey Google’, or their hands to navigate their phones,” the tech giant said in a blog post.

“However, that’s not always possible for people with severe motor and speech disabilities.”

The changes are the result of two new features, one is called “Camera Switches,” which lets people use their faces instead of swipes and taps to interact with smartphones.

The other is Project Activate, a new Android application which allows people to use those gestures to trigger an action, like having a phone play a recorded phrase, send a text, or make a call.

“Now it’s possible for anyone to use eye movements and facial gestures that are customised to their range of movement to navigate their phone — sans hands and voice,” Google said.

The free Activate app is available in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States at the Google Play shop.

Apple, Google and Microsoft have consistently rolled out innovations that make internet technology more accessible to people with disabilities or who find that age has made some tasks, such as reading, more difficult.

Voice-commanded digital assistants built into speakers and smartphones can enable people with sight or movement challenges to tell computers what to do.

There is software that identifies text on web pages or in images and then reads it aloud, as well as automatic generation of captions that display what is said in videos.

An “AssistiveTouch” feature that Apple built into the software powering its smart watch lets touchscreen displays be controlled by sensing movements such as finger pinches or hand clenches.

“This feature also works with VoiceOver so you can navigate Apple Watch with one hand while using a cane or leading a service animal,” Apple said in a post.

Computing colossus Microsoft describes accessibility as essential to empowering everyone with technology tools.

“To enable transformative change accessibility needs to be a priority,” Microsoft said in a post.

“We aim to build it into what we design for every team, organisation, classroom, and home.”

By Issam Ahmed
Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — It would take 15 billion years for the clock that occupies Jun Ye’s basement lab at the University of Colorado to lose a second — about how long the universe has existed.

For this invention, the Chinese-American scientist, along with Hidetoshi Katori of Japan, will split $3 million as co-winners of the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Working independently, the two developed techniques using lasers to trap and cool atoms, then harness their vibrations to drive what are known as “optical lattice clocks”, the most precise timekeeping pieces ever built.

By comparison, current atomic clocks lose a second once every 100 million years.

But what is gained by greater accuracy?

“It’s really an instrument to allow you to probe the basic fabric of space-time in the universe,” Ye told AFP.

In Ye’s lab, researchers have shown that time moves slower when the clock is moved closer to the ground by a matter of centimetres, in line with Einstein’s predictions of relativity.

Applied to current technology, these clocks could improve GPS navigation accuracy by a factor of a thousand, or help smoothly land an unmanned spaceplane on Mars.

A brief history of time

Improving the precision and accuracy of timekeeping has been a goal since ancient Egyptians and Chinese made sundials.

A key breakthrough came with the invention of the pendulum clock in 1656, which relies on a swinging weight to keep time, and a few decades later chronometers were accurate enough to determine a ship’s longitude at sea.

The early 20th century saw the advent of quartz clocks, which when jolted with electricity resonate at very specific, high frequencies, or number of ticks in a second.

Quartz clocks are ubiquitous in modern electronics, but are still somewhat susceptible to variations caused by the manufacturing process, or conditions like temperature.

The next great leap in timekeeping came from harnessing the movements of energised atoms to develop atomic clocks, which are immune the effects of such environmental variations. 

Physicists know that a single, very high frequency will cause particles called electrons that orbit the nucleus of a specific type of atom to jump to a higher energy state, finding an orbit further away from the nucleus.

Atomic clocks generate the approximate frequency that causes atoms of the element Cesium to jump to that higher energy state. 

Then, a detector counts the number of those energised atoms, adjusting the frequency if necessary to make the clock more precise. 

So precise that since 1967, one second has been defined as 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a Cesium atom. 

Exploring the 

universe, and Earth

Katori’s and Ye’s labs have found ways to improve atomic clocks even further by moving oscillations to the visible end of the electromagnetic spectrum, with frequencies a hundred thousand times higher than those used in current atomic clocks — to make them even more accurate.

They realised they needed a way to trap the atoms — in this case, of the element strontium — and hold them still with ultralow temperatures to help measure time properly. 

If the atoms are falling due to gravity or are otherwise moving, there would be a loss of accuracy, and relativity would cause distorting effects on the timekeeping. 

To trap the atoms, the inventors created an “optical lattice” made by laser waves moving in opposite directions to form a stationary, egg carton-like shape.

Ye is excited about the potential use of his clock. For example, synchronising the clocks of the world’s best observatories down to the tiniest fractions of a second would allow astronomers to better conceptualise black holes. 

Better clocks can also shed new light on the Earth’s geological processes.

Relativity tells us that time slows down when it approaches a massive body, so a sufficiently accurate clock could tell scientists the difference between solid rock and volcanic lava below the surface, helping to predict an eruption.

Or indeed, measure the levels of the oceans, or how much water flows beneath a desert.

The next great challenge, Ye says, will be miniaturising the technology so it can be moved out of a lab.

The scientist admits it’s sometimes hard to explain fundamental physics concepts to the public.

“But when they hear about clocks, they can feel it’s a tangible thing, they can make a connection to that, and that’s very rewarding,” he said.

Debuting in China in 2019 and introduced in Jordan in recent weeks, the Changan CS75 Plus is a testament to just how quickly the Chinese auto industry in general, and Changan in particular, has been developing in recent years.

Whether a straightforward successor or more up-market complementary model to the regular C75 that remains listed on some Changan websites, the fact of the matter is that after a short test drive, the C75 Plus made a significantly improved impression in terms of design, driving, technology and appointment.

Sharp shape

Little changed in dimensions or proportions, if marginally larger, the CS75 Plus is, however, markedly different in its styling, with a strikingly assertive aesthetic. Thoroughly more dramatic than its more generically conservative predecessor, the CS75 Plus’s visuals are dominated by a vast near full height black grille that is rakishly pinched in at license plate level and flanked by enormous sculpted and bisected side intakes. The CS75 Plus’s slim, stretched back and aggressively moody headlights are meanwhile connected by a small lighting strip above the grille.

Sporting a sharp three-slat lower lip, the CS75 Plus’s surfacing is similarly dramatic with bulging bonnet, sculpted creases and ridges, muscularly defined sills and wheel-arches with rugged looking lower black cladding and large 225/55R19 tyre clad alloy wheels. Featuring red accents and judiciously restrained use of chrome elements to denote a sportier styling persona, the C75 Plus meanwhile features a floating roofline effect to lend a more visually more dramatic angles of descent, in addition to faux side vents, jutting rear tailgate spoiler, quad exhaust ports and similarly sharp rear light treatment.

Punch and pull

The more powerful of two engines available internationally, the Jordanian market CS75 Plus receives Changan’s prodigious turbocharged 2-litre four-cylinder Blue Core engine. Bearing the 360T alphanumeric designation to denote its turbocharging and torque output in newton-metres, the CS75 Plus develops 230BHP at 5,500rpm and 266lb/ft torque throughout a wide and accessible 1,750-3,500rpm band. Perkier and more responsive in this application compared to the flagship Changan CS95 SUV, the CS75 Plus’s engine is estimated to deliver the same 7.5-second 0-100km/h acceleration as its rakishly roofed CS85 Coupe sister model.

Comparatively low-revving, the CS75 Plus is nevertheless punchy reaching for its top-end and muscularly capable overtaking and climbing inclines in mid-range. With quick-spooling turbocharger almost eliminating low-end lag associated with turbocharged engines, the responsive CS75 Plus pulls hard from standstill. Sweeping through an abundant mid-range it even provides an acoustically well suppressed, but evocative exhaust note at full throttle load and high revs. Driving the front wheels through a smooth shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox, the CS75 Plus meanwhile returns moderate estimated 8.1l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

Confident comfort

Putting power down effectively through its front wheels, the CS75 Plus delivers confident traction, with only a hint of torque-steer or electronic intervention at full throttle from standstill. Dynamically adept, the CS75 Plus turns tidily into corners and grips hard at the tarmac, while its steering is light, quick and accurate, if not highly nuanced or textured for road feel. Rear grip and brake responses also proved reassuring. Meanwhile, four engine and gearbox feature driving modes vary efficiency and responsiveness, and it also features hill start and descent functions.

Driven in an urban setting, initial impressions of the CS75 Plue are of a dynamically well-reconciled mid-size crossover with decent handling and good ride quality. Responsively turning in, it controls body lean well, but also delivers a mostly forgiving ride over road imperfections. Comfortably compliant if slightly firm over sudden sharp cracks and bumps, the CS75 Plus delivers good vertical control, but perhaps slightly stiffer damping over such conditions would further enhance traction. That said, its dampers provided good vertical control, resistant to over-compression when coming off large bumps.

Equipment and ergonomics

Stable and settled at speed yet reassuringly committed through corners, the CS75 Plus is meanwhile easy to manoeuvre, and features numerous driver assistance systems to aid this and supplement visibility. This includes blindspot warning, lane keeping and departure systems, front collision and rear cross traffic alerts, parking sensors and reversing and 360° cameras. Refined and well insulated from noise, harshness and vibrations, the CS75 Plus is even equipped with double glazed front windows, like a luxury car exceeding its comparatively moderate current offer price of JD33,000, which includes Jordan’s longest 10-year or 500,000km warranty.

Generously equipped with extensive comfort, safety, convenience and tech features, including remote key-activated parking capability, the CS75 Plus’s cabin is meanwhile an up-market affair with a welcoming ambiance, horizontally-oriented design, user-friendly layouts, twin infotainment and configurable instrument screens, rich red leather upholstery and contrasting black dashboard, as tested. Spacious, accessible and accommodating for passengers and luggage, it also features comfortable and supportive electrically-adjustable sports seats. However, slightly lower seat mounting, slightly narrower centre console and slightly longer steering reach would make a good cabin truly great for taller, larger drivers.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

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

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 230 (233) [171.3] @5,500rpm

Specific power: 115BHP/litre (approximately)

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 266 (360) @1,750-3,500rpm

Specific torque: 180Nm/litre (approximately)

0-100km/h: 7.5-seconds (estimate)

Fuel consumption, combined: 8.1-litres/100km (estimate)

Fuel capacity: 58-litres

Length: 4,700mm

Width: 1,865mm

Height: 1,710mm

Wheelbase: 2,710mm

Track: 1,585mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 620-/1,450-litres

Kerb weight: 1,670kg (estimate)

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

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs/discs

Tyres: 225/55R19

Price, on-the-road, with third party insurance: JD33,000

Warranty: 10-years or 500,000km

Just as our home gets cluttered when we ignore the results of bad habits, our minds get clouded when we make bad food choices. I think more clearly when my house is in order and when I’ve eaten fresh food instead of processed junk. 

I decided I was going to finally go through my bedroom in hopes of decluttering and getting rid of clothes I was not using. Keep in mind this was my third time in the last six months. I gave away some of the clothes the first time but kept the ones I thought I might still use. 

The second time around, I gave more away but kept the ones I had some emotional ties to. For example, the nightgown I wore after giving birth to our youngest son. He’s 18 years old now and you’d think that I would have parted with it by now, given that I haven’t worn it in years! Yesterday, I finally gave it away along with other items I’ll never wear again. I filled two huge bags to donate for a good cause. Some of the clothes still had tags on them; I had kept them just in case I needed them. I cannot tell you how therapeutic it was to get rid of these things that took valuable space in my room. I was finally able to arrange the clothes that I regularly wear.

Indulging in excess

Whether overeating or over-shopping, indulging in excess of what we need never has a happy ending. It might feel good when we indulge ourselves as we get a high from buying that latest item that we think we absolutely need or eating that inviting slice of cake, but the excitement is always temporary and never lasts. We only end up with disappointment and regret, whether it’s from overstuffed closets or overstuffed tummies.

Junk in the trunk (which I still have to clear) is similar to junk in my pantry, which means needing bigger trunks to fit my bloated body!

Feeling overwhelmed? 

One of the successful strategies that work well for me is to tackle both issues in small portions. Meaning you don’t have to take the whole day off to tidy up your messy closet. It can be done in half-hour slots regularly as you clear one section at a time. The same is true with our food intake when we focus on having smaller portions instead of overhauling our eating habits all at once. I’m sure you know what I mean when it feels so overwhelming to stand there and see all the work that needs to be done. The anxiety this invokes in us is enough to stop us from ever starting! 

You may know the famous quote by the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” This wisdom applies to every area in our lives, including the actual steps we take when we’re dreading to begin anything beneficial, such as starting a new workout regimen. The connection between our body, mind and soul is intricate. The more we train ourselves to become aware of this connection, the more motivated we become in making better choices in these areas.

Taking action and responsibility for our health and wellbeing is empowering. It is a blessing and a God-given gift to be better stewards of the bodies He gave us. Here’s to a healthier September to remember! 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

By James Pheby
Agence France-Presse

LONDON — After 15 years playing the legendary British spy James Bond, Daniel Craig is making way for a new generation of actors after his fifth 007 film, “No Time To Die”, which has its world premiere in London on Tuesday.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed actor was not well known to the general public when he took over from Pierce Brosnan in 2006, and seemed far removed from the character created by writer Ian Fleming.

Even Sam Mendes, director of 2015 Bond film “Spectre”, admitted that he thought at the time that it was a bad fit.

“I thought Bond had become the opposite of what Daniel is — a slightly disengaged, urbane, jokey, eyebrow-raising, you know, a pastiche in a way,” he told the BBC.

But the intensity Craig brought to the part won over doubters and allowed the multimillion dollar franchise to be rebooted with a harder, more serious edge.

He celebrated landing the role by paying a boozy tribute to the iconic spy, previously incarnated by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.

“I got drunk,” Craig told the official ‘James Bond’ podcast.

“I bought a bottle of vodka and a bottle of vermouth, a cocktail shaker and made myself three or four vodka martinis,” Bond’s favourite tipple.

Producer Barbara Broccoli, however, explained that Craig had resisted her advances for some time before agreeing, saying “the big problem was that he didn’t want to do it”.

Although a fan of the famous MI6 agent since childhood, the actor feared that his personal life would suffer from the pressure and fame that come with being the franchise figurehead. 

His private life remains relatively secret, although the tabloids have reported he had affairs with supermodel Kate Moss and actress Sienna Miller before marrying the Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz in 2011.

The couple had a baby girl in 2018. He already had a daughter, Ella, with his first wife, Scottish actress Fiona Loudon.

‘I’m not James Bond’

Born in 1968 in Chester, northwest England, to a pub landlord father and art teacher mother, Craig spent part of his childhood in Liverpool, where he moved with his mother and sister following his parents’ divorce.

He started acting at an early age, attending drama school in London before landing a string of roles in television, art house cinema and on stage before breaking through in Hollywood with films like 2001’s “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”.

He has played the painter Francis Bacon’s lover in “Love is the Devil” (1998) and starred alongside Tom Hanks in Sam Mendes’ “Road to Perdition” (2002).

He is also known for playing a cocaine dealer in Matthew Vaughn’s 2004 film “Layer Cake”, before signing for the James Bond films.

After 2006 debut “Casino Royale”, he starred in “Quantum of Solace” (2008), “Skyfall” (2012) and “Spectre” (2015).

Craig, 53, then seemed intent on calling it quits, but Broccoli convinced him to make a swansong in “No Time to Die”.

He has always insisted his own personality is a long way from the tuxedo-wearing, Martini-drinking Bond. 

In real life, he prefers jeans, a T-shirt and a cold beer in the pub.

Shortly after the birth of his daughter with Weisz, he was pictured carrying her in a sling on his front.

British TV host Piers Morgan lashed out at the image, with the Twitter hashtag #emasculatedBond, but his comments sparked a backlash on social media.

Between Bond films, Craig has chosen roles far removed from the suave spy, including an acclaimed 2013 Broadway production of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” with Weisz.

“I’m not James Bond,” he once told Esquire magazine. “I’m not particularly brave, I’m not particularly cool-headed.”

He added: “The day I can walk into a pub and someone goes, ‘Oh, there’s Daniel Craig’ and then just leaves me alone, that’ll be great.”

LISBON — US filmmaker, writer, painter, photographer and musician, Gus Van Sant, is now turning his hand to theatre with a new musical in Lisbon about the early career of Pop Art creator, Andy Warhol.

Van Sant — best-known for films such as "My Own Private Idaho" and "Good Will Hunting" — said he had long wanted to make a film about Warhol, and even wrote a screenplay with US actor River Phoenix, who died at 23 in 1993, set for the lead role.

Now, in his first-ever work for the stage, the 69-year-old laureate of Canne's Palme d'Or has written the musical "Andy", which premiered on Thursday in the Portuguese capital as part of the Biennial of Contemporary Arts where Van Sant is one of this year's artists in residence.

"I was trying to put together the greatest hits of Andy's life to explain his rise into the art world in the 60s," the filmmaker said.

With dialogue and songs penned by Van Sant himself, the musical — which is being staged in English in Lisbon's prestigious Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, ahead of a European tour that takes it to cities such as Rome, Amsterdam, Paris and Athens — is a collection of anecdotes about Warhol's encounters with leading figures of American culture, like writer Truman Capote, art critic Clement Greenberg and actor Edie Sedgwick.

The picture that emerges of the artist is one of "a very strange character that is not really related to the Andy Warhol that maybe we know. He's sort of a stand-in for Andy," Van Sant said.

Among Van Sant's films are biopics about iconic figures such as Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain in "Last Days" and gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk in "Milk".

"Very few people knew who Andy Warhol really was," said Portuguese actor Diogo Fernandes, who plays the artist in the production.

"I think he was someone who was shy, fascinated by American culture and who wanted to be a star, but never imagined what impact he would have," Fernandes told AFP. 

For Van Sant's collaborator on the project, John Romao, Warhol was "someone half-hidden in the shadows, shy, but very forceful at the same time thanks to his ability to turn his ideas into reality. This made him both fascinating and frightening to those around him." 

Born in Pittsburgh in 1928, Warhol began his career as a commercial illustrator.

But he soon became a leading exponent of the Pop Art movement and worked in a wide range of different media, such as painting, photography and film.

His studio in New York, The Factory, was a meeting place for intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy patrons. 

Best-known for his silkscreen paintings of "Campbell's Soup Cans", Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Mao Zedong, he also managed and produced the experimental rock band, The Velvet Underground, and founded Interview magazine.

He died in New York at the age of 58 in 1987.