Features

Think online social networks have no bearing on your real life? Think again. Scientists who studied Facebook activity and mortality rates of registered California voters found that people who received many friend requests were far less likely to die over a two-year period than those who did not. Initiating friend requests, however, seemed to have no effect on death rates whatsoever.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hint at deeper complexities in the relationship between humans’ health and their social networks — whether those networks are online, or in person.

Senior author James Fowler, a social scientist at the University of California, San Diego, has spent years studying the link between human well-being and real-world social networks, including how happiness and even obesity may spread through them. But he and his colleagues wondered if perhaps online networks could also be connected to health.

“We’ve known for a long time, for decades now, that offline social networks, especially social integration, [were] related to longer life,” said lead author William Hobbs, a postdoctoral researcher at Northeastern University who performed the research while at UC San Diego. “But we didn’t know if that extended to online interactions too.”

To try to get at this question with a large and reliable sample, the team of scientists took 12 million Facebook users and matched them to California vital statistics as well as the voter registration database. The data was anonymised, and the scientists checked how many had passed away over two years of follow-up. (All individuals in the study were born between 1945 and 1989, and all comparisons were made between people of about the same age and same gender.)

The scientists found, to their surprise, that there was no correlation between how many friend requests people sent and their longevity. But there was a clear link between the number of friend requests they accepted, and how long they lived. People who received and accepted the most friend requests (in the top 10th of the sample) were 34 per cent less likely to die in the study period than those who received and accepted the least friend requests (in the bottom tenth).

The scientists also found that those who posted a lot of photos indicating real-world interactions also had a lower risk of death — a sign that face-to-face interactions were linked to higher health. Other activities were more complicated: Writing wall posts and sending messages in moderation seemed to be linked to lower mortality, but writing very few or very many was not.

For a long time, scientists have argued that encouraging people to expand their social networks might be one way to improve their health, because of the long-established connection between the strength of social connections and well-being, Fowler said. But studies of real-world interactions cannot easily tell which of two people initiated the friendship, and this appears to be key, he added.

The findings, then, seem to show that simply trying to make more friends (whether face to face or online) might not have much effect on your health.

“I still think we’re going to be able to find ways to use this new online world to make us healthier; this is telling us that’s not the place to look,” he said. “You don’t start by telling people, go make more friends, or by doing things that help people to reach out to new people.”

To be clear, both scientists pointed out, this study only shows a correlation — there’s no way to tell, at the moment, what the cause may be. It could be that healthier people get stronger networks, not the other way around. There could also be another undetermined factor that happens to influence both health and social network strength.

More study is needed to try to understand the forces at play in this relationship, Fowler said. But ultimately, he added, the key may be to focus on the quality of the closest social ties, not the quantity.

“In some sense this reinforces what was already well known from these other studies,” he said, “which is that, if you’re going to start somewhere by making someone healthier, you want to start with their closest friends.”

Robots just want to be our friends. They know there have been a few bad apples like the Terminator, the Cylons and Ultron. But what about all the nice ones, like Data from “Star Trek” and Rosie from “The Jetsons”?

BT-7274, the co-star of “Titanfall 2” (Electronic Arts, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, $59.99), just wants to be loved. Sure, this giant bucket of bolts is really good at stomping enemy soldiers and blowing up stuff, but he does it all to protect you, a puny human stranded on an alien planet. Climb onboard — BT has a cavity in his chest that’s just your size — and maybe you can get out alive.

It’s not much of a story, but it’s more than developer Respawn Entertainment gave us the first time around, in 2014’s “Titanfall”. It’s a breezier tale than you’d expect in this age of ultra-serious shooters like “Battlefield 1”. The villains are cartoonishly over-the-top, while the protagonist — rifleman Jack Cooper — is kind of a wise guy. He and BT develop an easygoing comic rapport, and while their banter is not exactly hilarious, it takes the edge off the ridiculously high body count.

The single-player campaign in “Titanfall 2” takes some much-needed breaks from the tired one-firefight-after-another formula of most war games. When Jack is not inside BT, he’s equipped with a nifty pilot suit that allows him to run along walls and pull off midair double jumps. These skills come in handy in some cleverly designed puzzle rooms that could have been pulled right out of a “Super Mario Bros.” game.

Still, most of the campaign is spent shooting at enemies. “Titanfall 2” offers as beefy an arsenal as any of its competitors, from pistols and sniper rifles to lasers and rocket launchers.

But the fireworks really explode when you’re inside BT. Respawn has broadly diversified the Titans’ skills and weapons, introducing six new robots to the melee. One can lock onto his opponents and fire missiles at them; one shoots out strands of fire; one is armed with a huge, well-sharpened sword. It’s the sort of diversity you’d expect in a fighting game like “Mortal Kombat”, and the one-on-one duels are some of the campaign’s most exciting sequences.

“Titanfall 2” has the usual assortment of online multiplayer modes, like capture-the-flag team games and every man for himself free-for-alls. But the combination of the parkour-inflected agility of the pilots with the heavy metal thunder of the Titans makes such events feel less predictable than other online shooters. The pilots are so nimble that it’s a blast to just zip around the battlefield — and then summon your iron giant when you’re ready to bring the noise.

That well-executed blend of play styles left me wondering what Respawn can do if it ever decides to lay down its weapons. For now, “Titanfall 2” is a rock-solid shooter with some genuine surprises up its sleeve.

Whereas the global focus in the world of IT, understandably and mainly, is on questions like Cloud, Internet security, fibre-optic networks, apps and increased mobility, beautiful full-size hardware still matters. But when it comes to such fine computers, it is not every day that we are treated to real novelty.

Enter Microsoft’s Surface Studio computer; a brand-new toy with a $3,000 price tag. And yes, it is the company’s first computer ever to bear its prestigious name, apart from its Surface series tablets. For now we are still in the pre-ordering stage and actual delivery of the machine will take place early 2017.

Regardless of the high price that alone puts the computer in a category of its own, the American company in Redmond, Washington is showing one more time that its know-how is not limited to software. Actually and for many years now it has been making and selling hardware like keyboards, mice and cameras, but the Surface Studio is its first fully featured, actual computer, as such.

To be accurate, the Xbox game console and the Surface series tablets are products designed by Microsoft but actually manufactured by Flextronics, Wistron, Celestica and Foxconn for the first, and by Pegatron for the second.

Back to the Surface Studio. Looking at the pictures made available on the Web shows a beautiful, great-looking machine. The concept is that of a unit where all the components are integrated in a very slim, unobtrusive package base, with the large monitor taking centre stage and being the main attraction. Many have already jumped at the sight and are saying that this is taken from Apple’s iMac concept. This criticism, however, is all too easy.

Most smartphones look more or less the same today, and so do computers. Even cars today look more or less all the same. Therefore saying who was “inspired” by who is an impossible game — a pointless one anyway.

Microsoft’s new baby is not meant to replace or to compete with entry-level desktop or laptop computers, those that are priced under $1,000 and that can satisfy the computing needs of 95 per cent of the population. Instead it is a high-end, powerful machine that targets demanding professionals, designers and hard-core, wealthy gamers. The “Studio” part in its name directly points to these functions.

With massive power designed and put in each and every component, it is all about absolute speed: from the 2TB hybrid hard disk to the 4GB dedicated and lightning-fast graphics, then up to 32GB main memory, not forgetting the Intel i7 processor at 2.7 GHz. The showpiece, however and by far, is the screen. The superb touch surface, the true-colour display and the fact that you can set it flat and use it as a high-precision drawing pad, these are the characteristics that make it stand out of the crop.

Those who like figures would be happy to read that the screen’s resolution is a stunning 4,500 x 3,000 and that the pixel density is 192 per inch. Gamers and photographers rejoice!

So far, early reviews of demo units have brought reactions like gorgeous and clever, but also quite pricey. It is yet to be seen how good the sound part is, though in practice this should not be an issue in any case, given that USB ports today allow for easy connection of eventual lacking high-definition external audio digital-to-analogue modules.

Microsoft keeps being one time praised and another time criticised, and then all over again, not to mention the truly passé comparison with Apple. By now, after all these years, we can reasonably assume that the company itself, as well as the consumers, have become accustomed to the situation.

Children exposed to food advertisements are more likely to overeat, especially if they have a specific version of a gene linked to obesity, a recent study suggests.

A gene known as the fat mass and obesity-associated gene, or FTO, comes in various slightly different versions, and was the first to be linked to obesity by genetic studies, the researchers wrote in the International Journal of Obesity.

These kinds of genes interacting with an environment full of junk food ads may make children more likely to reach for a snack when it’s advertised on TV, even when they’re full, putting them at even greater risk of obesity, the study team writes.

“Many people ask me why they can’t walk past a plate of brownies sitting on a table when their best friend can,” said Dr Diane Gilbert-Diamond, lead study author and assistant professor of epidemiology at Dartmouth College in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

“It’s a compelling question because it gets to the individual differences in how people respond to food,” she told Reuters Health. “Many people think it’s a matter of self-control, yet our research looks at how food cues motivate consumption.”

Previous studies have shown that food advertising on television can influence how people react to and consume food. Past research has also shown that having a high-risk version of FTO is associated with a 20 per cent higher likelihood of being obese compared to people with other versions of the gene.

In the current study, 172 children from the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, ages 9 and 10, were tested to determine their version of the gene. Of three versions, 16 per cent of kids had the most dangerous one, 18 per cent had the version associated with the lowest obesity risk and 48 per cent had a moderate-risk version. 

In the whole group, 26 per cent of kids were obese, and those with the high-risk genotype were more likely to fall into this category, according to the report.

In the experiment, all the children were served a lunch and then randomly assigned to groups that would watch one of two versions of a 34-minute kids’ TV show embedded with eight minutes of either food or toy ads. 

The researchers gave each group of kids snack foods — gummy candy, cookies, chocolate and cheese puffs — to eat during the show and measured how many calories the children consumed. They also surveyed kids about how hungry they felt.

The kids who saw the version of the show with food ads, including one ad for gummy candy, ate an average of 48 more calories of gummies than the children who saw the toy ads. There was no difference in how much kids seeing food or toy ads ate of candies that were not advertised. Those with the high-risk version of FTO who saw the food ads were even more likely to eat the gummies, however.

In terms of extra calories consumed overall, kids with the high-risk version of the gene ate 125 more calories, compared to 59 extra calories for kids with the medium-risk version and three fewer calories among kids with the low-risk version.

“There have been a lot of attempts to understand what makes some people more or less susceptible to overeating,” said Dr Jennifer Harris, the director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut in Hartford. 

“The fact that these researchers made sure everyone was full before they started the experiment, as well as the genotyping, makes the effects even more compelling,” said Harris, who was not involved with the study. 

The US food industry spends $1.79 billion on marketing foods to children under 11 each year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. For average cable viewers, this could mean 15 TV food ads per day, or 5,500 per year, according to a 2010 Rudd Centre report.

“This study sets the ball rolling on an exciting avenue for research, particularly given our expanding understanding of genetic susceptibilities to obesity and the gains we’re making in knowledge of reward pathways in the brain,” said Dr Emma Boyland, a lecturer on appetite and obesity at the University of Liverpool in the UK, who was not involved in the study.

“Policy progress in the field of food marketing requires evidence of children’s vulnerability and their need for regulatory protection,” Boyland said by e-mail. 

“Parents should remember that even within a family, children can be different,” Dr Gilbert-Diamond said. “One child may not overeat, and the other may beg for a treat when walking past the ice cream store. Even for me as a parent, that’s hard to understand.”

Like all of us, even I have been watching this year’s American presidential elections with great interest. The three debates, between the two primary candidates, have livened up many of my dinner table conversations. Along with the endless entertainment it provided, I also got to learn some brand new phrases and terms that were bandied about. 

Soon the votes would be counted and a new entrant picked to occupy the White House but what will remain with me is the remark that was uttered almost as an aside during the final debate. It was as if Donald Trump could not help himself and less than an hour after telling American voters that no one had more respect for women than he did, Trump let loose a dig that seemed to suggest otherwise.

The Republican presidential nominee found his opponent’s sharing of her ideas about social security funding simply “nasty”. To quote him fully: “Such a nasty woman,” he said. With this singular sentence deriding Hillary Clinton, it was as if  Trump set himself up to be lampooned by the media and the general public.

Being nasty, if you went by the dictionary definition, meant a huge range of negative descriptions. Like: disgusting, offensive, mean, spiteful, unpleasant, repugnant, annoying, dangerous, filthy, vicious and so on.

But when Trump called Clinton a “nasty woman”, overnight the expression spread like wildfire all across the Internet and it took on a whole new meaning that he definitely did not intend. Quite contrary to Trump’s derogatory observation, it got switched to describing someone who was “a confident, poised woman who strikes fear in the hearts of men when she clearly articulates rational arguments and/or takes action”.

Watching it on television, for the first time in my life I wished I could somehow cast a vote for electing the president of the United States of America. Not being an American citizen, this was impossible but if I could, I would vote for the best nasty woman on the planet. 

Growing up in a patriarchal society like India, very early in life I got used to being talked down upon. It should not have happened, but it did. When I put forth my opinions, I was asked not to be argumentative. If I articulated a logical point of view, I was told not to be confrontational. For the short period that I worked full time in a newspaper office, whenever I aired my thoughts during editorial meetings, my ideas were discretely pinched by my male colleagues and passed off as their own. If I put my foot down and insisted that the concept was mine, I was called, yes, a nasty woman. These barbs hurt. 

Therefore, when an extremely well qualified and competent lady like Hillary Clinton, who was running for the highest office in America, was similarly ridiculed, I could not stop empathising with her. But what kept me riveted to the small screen was the manner in which she handled herself. Without batting an eyelid, she went on to complete what she was saying, and got her message across. 

“That’s what I want to become,” I told my husband after the debate. 

“The president of USA?” he was surprised. 

“Wrong guess,” I corrected him. 

“The president of India?” he tried again. 

“Absolutely not,” I answered. 

“I give up,” he said, giving up. 

“Like Hillary Clinton” I gave him a hint. 

“A smart but belligerent woman?” he asked. 

“A very smart nasty woman,” I assured. 

As respected as auto manufacturers come, Volvo has long been synonymous with Swedish sensibility, automotive safety, thorough engineering and rugged dependability. A somewhat left field player dedicated to safety before style, past were not always perceived as luxurious, glamorous or sporty as they often deserved to be. In the process of entrenching its position as a premium brand since the 1990s, Volvo’s latest efforts are, however, the most concerted and convincing yet.

Hot on the heels of the particularly well received XC90 SUV, the S90 saloon and its V90 estate sister are set to take on the German luxury troika of Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW head on in terms of design, desirability and dynamics. Launched globally earlier in the year and regionally in recent weeks, the S90 is soon expected to arrive in Jordan sometime between mid-December and mid-January, when it has been confirmed to The Jordan Times that Volvo will officially re-enter the Jordanian market after a brief hiatus in recent years.

Contemporary charisma

Packed to the rafters with high-tech infotainment, driver assistance and drive-line technology, the S90 is based on a shared Scalable Product Architecture platform with the XC90, and is powered by a line-up of highly developed, powerful and efficient four-cylinder engines. Both models also share a new and glamorously elegant design ethos that gently hints but transcends past Volvo themes. Done without being a whiff of the overtly retro about it, the S90’s design is a thoroughly contemporary breath of fresh air.

With its long bonnet and long distance between the front wheels and A-pillar the S90 has a distinctly luxurious look to it, while a rakishly sloping roofline smoothly descends to a long rear deck with stylish boomerang rear lights. Generously proportioned with subtle sculpted surfacing, the S90’s road hugging stance looks best when in motion. Its front fascia design, however, takes centre stage, featuring an assertively hungry grille with concave vertical slats and sharp headlights with “Thor’s Hammer” style LED elements, after the mythical Norse god of thunder.

Hammer of Thor

Powered by a drive-line options exclusively consisting of forced induction 2-litre four-cylinder engines, including turbo-diesel and range topping T8 hybrid, the S90 is, however, offered in turbocharged T5 and dual turbo and supercharged T6 petrol versions with smooth and slick shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox for the Middle East. Driven in T6 guise with four-wheel drive, the S90’s highly developed engine produces a mighty 316BHP at 5,700rpm and hammer-of-Thor-like 295lb/ft torque throughout a broad 2,200-5,400rpm band, yet returns efficient 7.3l/100km combined fuel consumption and 169g/km CO2 emissions.

Benefiting from both exhaust gas driven turbocharger and mechanically driven supercharger, the S90 T6 benefits from the latter’s instant low-end responsiveness without suffering turbo lag. Responsive off-the-line with all-wheel drive traction, the T6 feels abundant and willing throughout the engine speed spectrum. Pouncing through 0-100km/h in just 5.8 seconds and capable of 250km/h, the T6 pulls clean and hard throughout. With deeply muscular and flexible mid-range torque and progressively urgent power build-up, the 1,892kg S90 T6 AWD overtakes briskly at highway speeds and dispatches inclines with confident versatility.

Supple, settled and spacious

Riding on double wishbone front and integral axle independent rear suspension with adaptive dampers, the S90 is smooth, refined and poised, while rear air suspension can also be optioned for additional comfort. In its element when on motorways, the S90 is stable and reassuring, dispatching sudden dips and crests with settled vertical and rebound control. Well refined from noise, vibration and harshness on tarmac, whether pottering through town or at speed, the S90 processes rough surfacing with supple fluency despite the driven model’s optional low-profile 255/35R20 footwear.

Comfortable and refined yet sure-footed and confidently agile for such a large front drive derived premium saloon, the S90 benefits from good lateral control and precise steering. Entering corners tidily, the S90’s quick speed-sensitive steering feels light and natural, while front grip is reassuring. With long wheelbase and all-wheel drive distributing power, the S90 grips hard through snaking switch backs, as driven in Oman. Meanwhile adaptive dampers — along with steering and throttle responses — can be set to comfort mode for more pliancy or sport mode for more buttoned-down control.

Scandinavian sensibility

Brimming with luxurious materials and finishing inside, Volvo prides itself that leathers, woods and metals are natural and not man-made. Well-constructed and luxurious, the S90 boasts an airy, welcoming affair and distinctly Scandinavian sensibility and ambiance, with stylishly user-friendly design, comfortable, supportive and highly adjustable seating. Spacious for front and rear passengers, the S90 also benefits from a generous boot. Relaxing but alert, the S90’s cabin is truly superb, with minor complaints being that the gear lever and driving mode selector positions could be positioned slightly more forward.

Thoroughly well equipped with standard and optional comfort, convenience and infotainment features, including cloud-based apps, the S90 also features an extensive suite of high-tech driver assistance systems. With Volvo’s latest cutting edge safety and semi-autonomous driving systems, the S90 features including stop/go adaptive cruise control and Pilot Assist, which self-steers at up to 130km/h without following a lead car. City Safety can detect pedestrians, cyclists, animals and other cars, and automatically brake, even at intersections, to prevent or mitigate collision, depending on speed. Other systems include lane keeping and Run-Off mitigation and protection, among numerous others.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged, transverse 4 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 82 x 93.2mm

Compression ratio: 10.3:1

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

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel drive

Ratios: 1st 5.25:1; 2nd 3.029:1; 3rd 1.95:1; 4th 1.457:1; 5th 1.221:1; 6th 1.0:1; 7th 0.809:1; 8th 0.673:1

Reverse/final drive ratios: 4.015:1/3.2:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 315 (320) [235] @5,700rpm

Specific power: 160.2BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 166.75BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 295 (400) @2,200-5,400rpm

Specific torque: 203.15Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 211.4Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 5.8 seconds

Top speed: 250km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 7.3 litres/100km 

CO2 emissions, combined: 169g/km

Fuel capacity: 60 litres

Length: 4,963mm

Width: 1,891mm

Height: 1,435mm

Wheelbase: 2,941mm

Track, F/R: 1,623/1,624mm

Overhangs, F/R: 873/1,149mm

Ground clearance: 152mm

Headroom, F/R: 1,027/961mm

Legroom, F/R; 1,071/911mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,460/1,420mm

Luggage volume: 500-litres

Unladen weight: 1892kg

Steering: Speed sensitive electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning Circle: 11.4 metres

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones/integral axle

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 345mm 320mm

Braking distance, 100-0km/h: 35 metres

Tyres: 255/35R20 (optional)

FRANKFURT — One of the world’s most restrictive countries on access to music videos opened up on Tuesday as YouTube announced a deal with musicians’ body GEMA to pay when people stream music in Germany.

YouTube users in the country had for years been confronted with a red sad-face emoticon and messages announcing “this video is not available in Germany” when trying to view videos ranging from the latest pop clips to films with GEMA-controlled background music.

Now the blockages should largely be a thing of the past.

“Hell has frozen over!” wrote one Twitter user in response to the news. “Listen to all the music!” said another.

Tuesday’s deal will see YouTube pay an undisclosed amount for music belonging to the roughly 70,000 German artists represented by GEMA — as well as many foreign artists — each time their songs are played.

“Authors, composers and music publishers will be paid fairly,” YouTube executive Christophe Muller said in a statement.

GEMA and the Google subsidiary had been wrangling since 2009 — at times in court — over how musicians should be paid for their work being streamed after a previous licensing agreement expired.

A court ruled in 2012 that YouTube should install filters preventing users uploading copyrighted music without permission — on pain of a 250,000-euro ($275,000) fine per infraction.

But the latest court case launched by the music licensing organisation, in which it claimed 0.375 euro cents from the video site for each time a song was played, failed in January this year.

Ten months later, the two sides have reached an agreement, although neither released details of the amount artists would receive per play.

“There was an appropriate, good offer,” GEMA Spokeswoman Ursula Goebel told AFP.

Citing industry sources, news agency DPA reported that the compromise would see YouTube send some advertising revenue to GEMA, as well as a fee for videos not preceded by ads.

GEMA said Tuesday’s deal covers past as well as future usage of its members’ music.

NEW YORK — Microsoft launched a new consumer offensive Wednesday, unveiling a high-end computer that challenges the Apple iMac along with an updated Windows operating system that showcases three-dimensional content and “mixed reality”.

The US tech giant announced its first desktop computer, called Surface Studio, a $3,000 high-end “all-in-one” device that aims at creative professionals, a segment dominated by Apple.

“We’re creating a new category that transforms your desk into a creative studio,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said at the unveiling in New York.

With a large, 28-inch hinged touchscreen display touted as “the thinnest desktop monitor ever created”, Surface Studio adds to the Microsoft line-up of tablet and laptop devices for the premium segment.

“It is a new class of device that transforms from a desktop PC into a powerful digital canvas, unlocking a more natural and immersive way to create on the thinnest display ever built,” said Microsoft Vice President Terry Myerson.

The new PC has an ultra-HD 4.5K display, offering more pixels than most new high-definition televisions. It will be available in “limited quantities” for the upcoming holiday season, with more units available in 2017.

The new device drew a mixed response from analysts.

“Yes, this is very cool. But what’s the market for a $3,000 computer you can draw on? How many people have that job?” asked Benedict Evans of the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz in a tweet.

But Avi Greengart at the research firm Current Analysis said the new Microsoft products “are aimed at setting the high mark for the Windows ecosystem”.

Microsoft also announced an updated Surface Book — its high-end convertible tablet-computer — which will sell for $2,400, adding improved graphics and computing power and with an estimated 16 hours of battery life.

“It’s for the people really pushing performance,” Microsoft Vice President Panos Panay said. 

The Surface devices allow users to create content onscreen with a special pen-stylus, and Microsoft introduced a new disk device called Dial which attaches to the screen and offers additional controls such as viewing the timeline of a creation.

New ways to create 

Microsoft, meanwhile, announced its Windows 10 Creators operating system would be offered as a free update in early 2017, enabling users to create 3D content and delve into virtual and augmented reality.

The update offers “new ways to create and play”, said Myerson.

The update will allow for a 3D capture application for mobile devices and a new version of the popular programme Paint for 3D objects.

The system will allow users to add three-dimensional emojis and to create and manipulate content they create or scan.

Microsoft General Manager Megan Saunders demonstrated how the capture application can scan a sand castle in three dimensions, and then mix that with other content.

With the new Windows system, users will be able to experience virtual reality with Microsoft’s HoloLens headgear and its Edge browser.

Edge “will act as the portal to display 3D content on HoloLens”, said Saunders.

Microsoft said its hardware partners would be selling Windows-compatible virtual reality gear starting at about $300.

Microsoft is aiming to keep users on Windows as many switch to new mobile devices powered by Apple or Google software.

Analyst Patrick Moorhead at Moor Insights & Strategy said the move appears positive for Microsoft.

“I like where Microsoft is going with Creators Update as it reflects PC differentiation and includes elements of what I believe consumers are interested in, albeit hard to execute upon,” Moorhead said. 

The analyst added that “3D creation is difficult today and Microsoft is taking initial steps to bring it to the masses”.

With PC sales sputtering, Microsoft has been emphasising its cloud computing and business services but is also working to stay relevant to consumers with Windows and its various computing and gaming devices.

The new version of Windows will help users sift through e-mail and other messages by creating “people” icons that show messages from important connections.

TOYOTA CITY, Japan — Engineers at Toyota Motor Corp. say they have tamed volatile lithium-ion battery technology, and can now safely pack more power at no significant extra cost, giving the Japanese automaker the option to enter the growing all-electric car market.

While rivals, including Tesla Motors and Nissan Motor Co., began adopting lithium-ion battery technology nearly a decade ago, Toyota has largely held back due to concerns over cost, size and safety.

Lithium-ion batteries can be unstable and have been blamed for incendiary Samsung smartphones and smoking Dreamliner airplanes.

Having Toyota endorse lithium-ion will be a fillip for the developing technology, and gives the automaker the option to produce for an all-electric passenger car market which it has avoided, preferring to put its heft behind hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs).

Toyota says its Prius Prime, a soon-to-be-launched plug-in electric version of the world’s top-selling gasoline hybrid, will use lithium-ion batteries, with enough energy to make the car go around 60km when fully charged before the gasoline engine kicks in. Because of different methodology in measuring a car’s electric mode range, the Prime’s 60km range will be listed in the United States as around 40.2km.

‘Safety, safety, safety’

Many lithium-ion car batteries use a chemical combination of nickel, cobalt and manganese. These store more energy, take a shorter time to charge, and are considered safer than other Li-ion technologies.

But they can still overheat and catch fire if not properly designed, manufactured and controlled.

“It’s a tall order to develop a lithium-ion car battery which can perform reliably and safely for 10 years, or over hundreds of thousands of kilometres,” said Koji Toyoshima, the chief engineer for the Prius.

“We have double braced and triple braced our battery pack to make sure they’re fail-safe... It’s all about safety, safety, safety,” he told Reuters.

Toyota has mainly used the more mature nickel-metal hydride batteries to power the motor in the conventional Prius, widely regarded as the forefather of the “green” car, though it did use some lithium-ion batteries from 2009 in its first plug-in hybrid Prius, around the time the first all-electric cars powered by lithium-ion batteries — such as the Tesla Roadster and Nissan Leaf — came on to the mass market.

Toyota’s confidence in its battery’s safety and stability comes from improved control technology that precisely monitors the temperature and condition of each of the 95 cells in its new battery pack.

“Our control system can identify even slight signs of a potential short-circuit in individual cells, and will either prevent it from spreading or shut down the entire battery,” said Hiroaki Takeuchi, a senior Toyota engineer involved in the development.

Working with battery supplier Panasonic Corp. — which also produces Li-ion batteries for Tesla — Toyota has also improved the precision in battery cell assembly, ensuring battery chemistry is free of impurities.

The introduction of even microscopic metal particles or other impurities can trigger a short-circuit, overheating and potential explosion.

“The environment where our lithium-ion batteries are produced is not quite like the clean rooms where semiconductors are made, but very close,” Takeuchi said.

Battery experts say increasingly sophisticated systems that can track individual cell conditions are becoming closely held trade secrets.

“State of charge management, safety management and algorithm development is becoming one of the higher tiers of proprietary internal development,” said Eric Rask, principal research engineer at Argonne National Laboratory, a US Department of Energy facility outside Chicago.

“It’s very internal, very strategic, and companies are seeing management algorithms as a competitive advantage.”

Falling prices

Toyota has also been able to shrink the size of each cell, for example, closing the distance between the anode and cathode, where active ions travel when charging and discharging.

This has doubled battery capacity to around 8.8 kilowatt hours, while only increasing the battery pack size by around two-thirds and its weight by a half.

Battery experts say lithium-ion battery cell prices have fallen by about 60 per cent in five years to around $145 per kilowatt hour as larger-scale production has made them cheaper to make.

Falling battery prices have enabled Toyota to develop its more compact, efficient battery, while also adding more sophisticated controls into its battery pack, Toyoshima said. Toyota declined to say more on its costs.

While Toyota sees FCVs as the ultimate “green” car, the United States and China are encouraging automakers to make more all-electric battery cars as they push alternative energy strategies.

“Developing lithium-ion batteries for both hybrids and plug-ins will enable us to also produce all-electric cars in the future,” said Toyoshima said. “It makes sense to have a range of batteries to suit different powertrains.”