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WASHINGTON — The new Barbie doll is “intelligent” and connected. Too connected for some privacy activists.

The high-tech “Hello Barbie” doll unveiled earlier this year by toy giant Mattel and likely to be a holiday hit allows children to speak and get a response from their favourite toy.

But to make that happen, conversations travel over Wi-Fi networks to Internet “cloud” servers that use artificial intelligence to deliver a personal reply.

For the activist group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the privacy risks of the intelligent Barbie outweigh the benefits.

“Children confide in dolls and reveal intimate details about their lives, but Hello Barbie won’t keep those secrets,” the group said in a statement. 

“When Barbie’s belt buckle is held down, everything your child says is transmitted to cloud servers, where it will be stored and analysed by ToyTalk, Mattel’s technology partner.

“Employees of ToyTalk and their partner corporations listen to recordings of children’s conversations — and ToyTalk won’t even say who their partners are.”

The consumer group says the new Barbie could become a marketing tool even though the makers have pledged not to do that. And it argues that the high-tech toy could undermine creativity.

“Children should use their own initiative and creativity to hold conversations with a doll, impart a personality and build their relationships,” the statement said.

“With Hello Barbie, Mattel and ToyTalk’s programmers and algorithms drive the conversation, undermining the creative play that is so critical to children’s development.”

To make matters worse, the organisation says Hello Barbie “could be a tempting target for hackers, who could access data stored by your family on home devices and networks through the doll”.

#HellNoBarbie

The group is urging parents to shun the new doll and earlier this month launched an online campaign with the hashtag #HellNoBarbie.

Mattel did not respond to requests for comment. But ToyTalk pointed in a blog post last week to the “many safety features that have been integrated” into the design of Hello Barbie.

“We are not aware of anyone who has been able to access your WiFi passwords or your kid’s audio data,” the company said.

ToyTalk says passwords are stored in a hardware-encrypted section of the doll, and no conversation history is stored on the toy.

It added that stored data “is never used for advertising purposes” and that the doll has been certified as compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

To address security concerns, Mattel and ToyTalk have launch a “bug bounty programme”, where security researchers are rewarded for responsibly disclosing potential vulnerabilities.

ToyTalk said it expects kids to warm to the new connected doll.

“Mattel and ToyTalk built this doll because the number one request from kids is to talk to Barbie,” the company said.

The car that launched Jaguar’s fresh contemporary design language in 2007, it seems not long ago that the XF succeeded the now defunct S-Type as Britain’s gambit into the hotly competitive and German-dominated executive saloon segment. Now gaining aluminium construction — like other Jaguar models — the second generation XF was introduced globally in September and arrived in Jordan last week.

Marginally smaller yet roomier and up to 190kg lighter owing to aluminium construction, the new XF also features a comprehensively modern infotainment and driver assistance technology suite. Driven in current range-topping guise at the global launch in northern Spain, the XF 3.0 Supercharged V6 380 AWD (All-Wheel Drive) offers brisk performance, lithe rear-drive-like handling but with reassuring four-wheel drive roadholding. 

Sculpted successor

An evolutionary design, the new XF is a classier yet sharper successor this more sculpted and with sharper. Featuring a snoutier more jutting and upright honeycomb grille it also receives a more muscularly ridged bonnet, bigger side air intakes and slimmer browed headlights with ‘J’ LED motifs, while a lower waistline with prominently defined ridges lend better visibility.

While short front overhang and long rear boot emphasise classic proportions, the XF’s strong shoulders and rakish roofline lend it a road-huggingly alert stance. Weighing in at 1,760kg — as tested — the XF is also 11 per cent lighter and 28 per cent stiffer owing to 75 per cent aluminium content construction. With 51mm longer wheelbase the XF benefits from better stability, rear legroom and 27mm more rear headroo, despite being 7mm shorter and 3mm lower. 

Nestled below its elegantly long bonnet, the driven XF S is powered by Jaguar’s now familiar 3-litre direct injection supercharged V6 engine, mated to a slick, smooth and swift shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox. Developing 375BHP at 6500rpm and 332lb/ft at 4500rpm, the XF S pounces off the line with immediacy and no lag, owing to mechanical supercharged induction, rising with progressive urgency to its rev limit.

Fast feline

Putting power down through all four wheels when necessary for improved traction, the 50kg heavier XF S 3.0 AWD is marginally quicker off-the-line than its rear drive sister model and while 0.1-second quicker in 0-97km/h acceleration. The difference, however, closes in by 100km/h at 5.3 seconds for both versions. Topping an electronically-governed 250km/h top speed, the XF S AWD returns restrained 8.6l/100km combined fuel efficiency.

Ostensibly operating as a rear-wheel-drive car for traditional feel, handling balance and 10 per cent efficiency improvement, the XF S can divert between 100 per cent power rear wards and up to 80 per cent frontwards to maintain traction and roadholding when necessary. Using a lightweight chain-driven four-wheel drive transfer, the XF S variable on-demand system is 16 per cent lighter than its predecessor. A limited-slip differential to actively distribute power along the rear axle is, however, not available.

With variable four-wheel drive and low traction electronic driver assistance systems the XF S AWD’s advange is most evident on low traction surfaces, and proved its mettle in aggressive tight wet obstacle course driving exercise. Squiggling and clawing back traction through tight turns and heavy low gear throttle inputs, the XF S AWD was manoeuvrable and controllable, where a similar rear drive car would have been out of its depth.

Clawing and pouncing

Built on a stiff and light aluminium platform and with balanced weighting, the XF S is dynamically eager and intuitive in, through and out of corners. Riding on sophisticated front double wishbone and rear integral link suspension, the XF S features independent dynamic tuning, including supple longitudinally settings for ride comfort and stiff lateral camber and castor settings for confident handling. 

Driven at the winding 3.93km long Circuito de Navarra, the XF S AWD was smooth, refined, confident and supple in a straight line, with its indefatigable supercharged engine pulling with consistently urgent progression to well above 200km/h. With adaptive damping system it conversely proved well-controlled in dealing with lateral weight transfer and body lean, through corners.

If not as pure or intuitive as its non-AWD sister, the all-paw nevertheless proved agile, effective and reassuringly capable at Navarra. Peeling back speed confidence as one hit the brakes, the XF S tidily turns into corners, its steering direct, quick and refined. With its engine digging deep and finding a muscularly versatile mid-range, the XF S AWD clawing hard into tarmac, tightens its line and pounces out onto the straight.

Uncluttered clarity

Refined and well-insulated inside, the XF’s cabin has a sophisticatedly contemporary and classy ambiance of uncluttered clarity, with quality leathers, real metals and supple textures aplenty. Roomier and with better visibility than before, the XF features a supportive, comfortable and ergonomic driving position with highly adjustable seats and steering, along with user-friendly controls.

Thoroughly well-equipped, the XF features a choice of two intuitive 10.2-inch infotainment system options. Along with standard gesture and voice control and text-to-voice tech, the optional smartphone-like InControl Touch Pro adds a quad-core processer, 60GB solid state drive, Ethernet connectivity, various apps, smooth crisp graphics and approach view and dead reckoning interactive satnav even able to position the vehicle without a GPS signal.

In addition to extensive driver assistance systems, the XF features All Surface Progress Control, coupled with Adaptive Surface Control (AdSR) for AWD versions. Derived from sister brand Land Rover’s extensive off-road expertise, the former acts as sure-footed low-speed cruise control, operating between 3.6-30km/h on low friction surfaces and the latter identifies and adapts engine, steering, stability controls and steering for surfaces such as snow or gravel.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3-litre, supercharged, in-line V6 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 84.5 x 89mm

Compression ratio: 10.5:1

Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, continuously variable valve timing, direct injection

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel drive

Ratios: 1st 4.714; 2nd 3.143; 3rd 2.106; 4th 1.667; 5th 1.285; 6th 1.0; 7th 0.839; 8th 0.667

Reverse / final drive: 3.317 / 3.23

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 375 (380) [280] @ 6500rpm

Specific power: 112BHP/litre

Power -to-weight ratio: 213BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 332 (450) @4500rpm

Specific torque: 150.25Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight ratio: 255.68Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 5.3 seconds

Top speed: 250km/h

Fuel economy, combined: 8.6 litres/100km

CO₂ emissions, combined: 204g/km

Fuel capacity: 74 litres

Length: 4,954mm

Width: 1,880mm

Height: 1,457mm

Wheelbase: 2,960mm

Track, F/R: 1,605 / 1,594mm

Ground clearance (fully laden): 116mm

Headroom, F/R: 991/970mm

Boot capacity: 540 litres

Kerb weight: 1,760kg

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones/integral link

Steering: Variable electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.61 metres

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres: 255/35R20 (optional)

Arab Dawn: Arab Youth and the Demographic Dividend They Will Bring

Bessma Momani

University of Toronto Press, 2015

Pp. 163

This book is like a breath of fresh air, injecting optimism into the dismal picture usually painted of the Arab world in the wake of the 2011 popular uprisings. Based on surveys and interviews in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE, and among Syrians, Qataris and Saudis studying in Canada, Bessma Momani contends that the transformative power of Arab youth, so apparent in these uprisings, has not been depleted, but is just beginning. Momani is Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Of her encounters with Arab young people, ages 15-24, she writes, “I was frankly surprised that, despite their differences, youth from across the socio-economic and educational attainment spectrum often shared much of the same outlook.” (p. 5) 

“Arab Dawn” musters powerful arguments and a vast array of statistics to delineate this new outlook, how it differs from that of previous generations, and how it can be a powerful force for much-needed political, economic and social change. The book examines what Arab youth want and how they think about the world, covering attitudes towards education, work, politics, women’s role, social relations, modernity and faith. Momani leverages their outlook to counter Western myths about Arab exceptionalism, such as that Arabs want a strongman as leader or, unlike the rest of the world, are adverse to democracy and modernity. Arab youth’s outlook also challenges governments in the region, for it must be matched by new policies if the demographic dividend heralded by this highly educated, creative and internationally connected generation is to be actualised. 

“Arab youth are more politically engaged than their elders ever were… they are using new tools, including digital technology, to further the conversation about the need for political reform.” (p. 71)

They want their government to be accountable, not autocratic; they expect it to promote the prosperity they feel they deserve in light of their accumulating educational credentials. Having grown up amidst rapid urbanisation, globalisation, economic liberalisation and a surge in higher education, not least for women, they are less reliant on state employment, and more highly skilled and entrepreneurially inclined than past generations. 

Momani also examines the meaning of young people’s increased religiosity as connected to their search for dignity and justice. “With so much corruption and inequity surrounding them, religion provides a useful moral compass to redirect their energies and faith in society.” (p. 73) Significantly, they aspire to be both modern and religious. “Unlike previous generations, today’s Arab youth are more apt to reject binary views of their identities as Western versus Eastern, secular versus religious, and individualistic versus family oriented.” (p. 95)

Particularly interesting is the concept of circularity as opposed to past immigration patterns. Momani sees benefit in the fact that “Arab migration exceeds the global average”. (p. 98)

This need not mean brain drain since today’s immigrants tend to keep connections to their country of origin, visit often and be involved in its political and economic life. With circularity, immigrants don’t just send remittances, but “bring back knowledge, capital, experience, and professional networks that benefit their home countries”. (p. 110) 

The overall thrust of Momani’s analysis is right on the mark, but a few of her conclusions are a bit facile, such as directly linking the development of critical thinking with the amount of time spent online (p. 56) or contending that in the past, outside the Gulf region, “Discrimination against people of faith was felt in all levels of society.” (p. 71)

The serious flaw in her analysis, however, is completely discounting the negative impact of Israeli and US policy when discussing sectarianism. It is also inexplicable to state that “one should take comfort in the knowledge that the vast majority of Arabs have negative views of movements such as ISIS [Daesh], Al Qaeda, Hizbollah, and Hamas,” lumping together two patently terrorist groups with the two latter ones, which arose in response to Israeli occupation. (p. 128)

Fortunately, these analytical flaws do not impinge on the veracity of the book’s main argument that “Arab youth are tackling economic, political and social failings in creative and innovative ways” that can catalyse positive change in all fields. (p. 10)

This timely and relevant message needs to be heard by educational institutions, governments, planners and the private sector if youth’s potentially revolutionising contribution to society is to be realised.

FRANKFURT— If Elon Musk’s vision of millions of households producing all their own power becomes a reality, it will probably happen first in Germany. But he will face a battle for market share against local firms with years of experience in renewable energy.

The South African-born entrepreneur’s company Tesla, best known for its electric cars, sparked global interest in the idea of self-powered homes in April, when it said it would start selling lithium-ion batteries for households next year.

The batteries, called Powerwalls, connect to solar panels on the roof of a house and aim to store enough power during the day to drive kettles and washing machines at night, raising the prospect that households one day will be able to rely fully on clean energy and become independent of the power grid.

There are big challenges.

The technology does not yet allow most users to disconnect from the grid — the German solar industry association BSW estimates batteries currently raise solar power self-sufficiency to at least 60 per cent.

Then there is the price. Buying and installing solar panels and batteries costs around 10,000 euros ($10,600) or more.

But the technology is improving, and costs falling, and some analysts think Germany — with more solar panels than anywhere in the world and sky-high power prices — could become the industry’s first mass-market.

“The business model of power batteries is becoming increasingly attractive,” said Norbert Schwieters, global utilities leader at consultants PwC, noting market estimates that sales in Germany could reach half a million within a decade, up from around 25,000 now.

‘Lifestyle gadget’

If the market does take off, Musk will have a fight on his hands against German companies with established retail networks and years of experience managing solar equipment.

While acknowledging Musk’s slick marketing — Powerwalls are made at his “Gigafactory” in the Nevada Desert — some of these rivals think he has created a buzz around home power storage batteries that will ultimately work in their favour.

“Tesla has made sure that they’re seen as a lifestyle gadget,” said Volker Wachenfeld, in charge of hybrid energy and storage solutions at SMA Solar.

SMA Solar is one of a number of German companies with ambitions in the market, including Sonnenbatterie, SENEC.IES and Varta. Daimler Accumotive is also due to launch a product, while Solarwatt, owned by major BMW shareholder Stefan Quandt, says it is ready to join the fray.

Sonnenbatterie, whose backers include Germany’s E-Capital and Czech firm Inven Capital, has already sold around 8,500 batteries in Europe, mostly in Germany, but its ambitions go further.

“The biggest challenge of our generation is the move to renewable and inexpensive energy supply,” said its 32-year-old managing director, Philipp Schroeder. “I started this vision and now want to take it to global success.”

Schroeder knows Tesla well — he worked there until earlier this year, leading its German and Austrian operations with a brief to roll out a network of charging points for Tesla cars in Germany. He jumped ship for his old employer Sonnenbatterie just as Tesla was gearing up for its European home-battery push.

Tesla, which has made Germany one of its three launch markets for Powerwalls, is ready for a fight, however. It has struck partnerships with German companies Beegy and LichtBlick in order to benefit from local expertise.

“Tesla is working with leading German and international solar PV [photovoltaic] distributors and installers to offer complete solar PV solutions including PV panels, a solar PV inverter, and installation,” it said.

Is the price right?

With the second-highest retail power costs in Europe, partly the result of the government’s break-neck push into renewables, Germany’s economy stands to gain massively if it can take a chunk of its back-up grid capacity offline.

Germany boasts about 39 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar capacity, bringing its total capacity to nearly 200 GW, more than twice the level it theoretically needs.

Vast amounts of costly back-up power are required to kick in when the sun doesn’t shine. If homes, offices and factories can store their solar power, many of the country’s power stations can be scrapped and transmission systems do not have to be extended at billions of euros of cost.

Incentives for solar power producers to feed surplus supplies into the national grid are set to end in 2021, providing a reason for them to store more power themselves.

“First it was technology aficionados, today it is a broad number of home owners,” Herbert Schein, CEO of Varta Microbattery, said of the growing interest in power batteries.

Schein estimates sales at Varta’s energy storage unit have doubled this year. “In the future we will add small companies and farmers,” he said.

Battery systems of various suppliers may differ, but costs overall have fallen and lithium-ion battery packs are the norm, having pushed aside lead batteries.

With a slim, curved appearance and made to be wall-mounted, Tesla’s Powerwall is designed to appeal to style-conscious consumers who agree with co-founder and CEO Musk’s statement that traditional batteries “suck”.

The batteries offered by most German providers can be placed in basements, common in German homes and take up no more space than a small refrigerator. Smaller batteries can be wall-mounted too.

The batteries start selling at about 1,000 euros per kilowatt peak (kWp) — the level at which experts say the technology makes economic sense for buyers — with an average four-person household usually needing a 5 kWp system.

Tesla says the 7 kWp Powerwall will cost 3,615 euros wholesale, including value added tax.

Sonnenbatterie this week announced a 3,599 euro small battery and offers a full home solar power and storage system at 9,000-13,000 euros.

JAKARTA — The trendy café looks like a typical coffee shop in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, but in fact it sells herb-infused brews promising to fix every ailment from coughs to impotence.

Indonesians have for generations taken herbal medicine, known locally as “jamu”, as a remedy for common ailments, and many children’s early memories include being forced to gulp down concoctions of ingredients such as ginger and turmeric.

Now entrepreneurs have fused the age-old love of tonics made from the archipelago’s vast selection of herbs with the younger generation’s desire for a fashionable setting, and come up with beverages that focus on modern-day problems.

And as demand for alternative medicines grows from the Middle East to Africa, Indonesian jamu manufacturers hope the country can use its expertise in the sector to become a major player in the global herbal medicine industry.

A resurgence in domestic popularity is being driven by hangouts such as the Jakarta café, which welcomes young professionals and students to a retro setting that mixes old-fashioned furniture with touches of the past, such as black and white prints and vintage bicycles.

“Potent!” exclaims the menu, which features a picture of a beaming man wearing a traditionally patterned cap and a smart suit as he promotes a “stamina-boosting aphrodisiac”, named the Ginseng Prakoso Plus.

Next to him is a picture of a woman with her hair meticulously styled into a bun, offering a drink called the “Tight Cavity”, which aims to help improve a couple’s sex life after a woman has given birth.

‘Wives always smiling’

Other brews at the café, named “It’s a long time such we had jamu,” tantalisingly promise to “keep husbands at home” and “wives always smiling”.

The café, which opened two years ago, also offers a range of lighter, more palatable jamu, such as drinks made from the herb rosella to recharge the immune system, turmeric to boost stamina, and ginger to fight colds and coughs.

“Initially the bitter taste put me off, but I have grown accustomed to it,” said graphic designer Io Woo, 23, who gets her particular amu fix at the café three to four times a month.

“It’s less dreadful to consume it with friends here, where it’s cosy and comfortable.”

It is not just hipster cafés seeking to breathe new life into jamu. Traditional healer Retno Widati has since 2011 been teaching people seeking to open their own businesses how to make jamu ice cream from green beans, rice and galangal, a herb related to ginger common in Indonesia.

“Young people are not taking jamu as often as in the old days, they fear the bitter taste,” she said, adding her aim was to re-introduce it to people in a “more modern form”.

The “jamu movement” has some high-profile supporters, notably Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who reportedly starts his day with a glass of boiled turmeric and ginger.

The government has thrown its support behind the industry, which currently employs 15 million people and boasts more than 1,000 manufacturers, including some listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

Industry Minister Saleh Husin in September urged more exports of jamu products and said the sector aims to generate revenue of up to 20 trillion rupiah ($1.45 billion) this year, up from 15 trillion rupiah in 2014.

The old ways

Producers of jamu products see great opportunities abroad. Asia remains the stronghold for herbal remedies but their popularity is growing around the world, according to experts.

But Jamu Entrepreneurs Association Chairman Charles Saerang said Indonesia, which is home to around 6,000 varieties of herbs, was still punching below its weight and remained a small player in the $50 billion herbal remedy industry, which is dominated by countries including China and India.

He said the sector should focus on exporting good quality, cheap raw ingredients instead of simply ready-made products, as it mainly does now, which could increase annual earnings four fold.

Despite the arrival of hip cafés seen as key in driving jamu’s modernisation, there remains a hardcore of Indonesians who prefer the old ways — tonics served at streetside stalls, or in unpretentious, inexpensive local shops.

“Why should I pay five times more for something that’s essentially the same? I’d rather save my money because more money means more jamu to enjoy,” said school handyman Agustinus Martanbaim, 38, who buys his herbal drinks from local vendors.

BEIJING — In a martial artist’s white silk pyjamas, a man practised tai-chi in harmony with a motorised arm at a Beijing exhibition showcasing a vision of robots with Chinese characteristics.

Vehicles with automated gun turrets sat alongside drink-serving karaoke machines at the World Robot Conference, as manufacturers sought new buyers for their “jiqiren” — “machine people” in Chinese.

The push has support at the highest levels of government. President Xi Jinping issued a letter of congratulations for the conference, and the industry is name-checked in the draft version of the country’s new five-year plan, the policy document that guides national economic development.

The world’s second-largest economy is already the leading market for industrial robots, accounting for a quarter of global sales, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

But executives at a conference roundtable said the real market opportunity was in service robots for the homes and offices of the world’s most populous country.

“There are now less than 100,000 robots in Chinese families, not including vacuum cleaners,” said Liu Xuenan, chief executive officer of Canbot.

In the future, said Yu Kai, the head of Horizon Robotics, China’s automated helpers will do everything from building cars to driving them, predicting that “each person might have 10 robots” — nearly 14 billion potential tin men at current population levels.

Planet of the Apps

Robots have captured China’s imagination. From Transformers to Baymax, the star of Disney’s movie “Big Hero 6”, Chinese consumers have embraced robot heroes, spending hundreds of millions on related movies and merchandise.

In Chinese cities, businesses try to attract customers with robot waiters, cooks, and concierges. In the countryside, rural Da Vincis cobble together mechanical men from scrapyard junk.

A panel at the conference struggled with the question of how China would deal with the rise of artificially intelligent machines.

But the transition from the world of fantasy and novelty to a real robot economy could be tricky, with the country’s technology still lagging far behind neighbours Korea and Japan, the undisputed king of the robots.

China should have more realistic expectations for the near future, said Pinpin Zhu, president of China’s voice controlled service Xiao I Robot, which was involved in a patent dispute with American tech giant Apple linked to its personal digital assistant Siri.

The country may descend from the peak of high expectations into a “trough of disillusionment”, said Zhu, who believes a smartphone-based “Planet of the Apps” is more likely than a world served by humanoid robots.

Some companies, he said, were focusing on more realistic products, such as “trying to modify the microwave oven into a robot that can fry eggs... maybe it doesn’t look like a robot, but it has artificial intelligence.”

‘I won’t be alive’

Skynet, the malicious computer that rains nuclear destruction on the Earth in the Terminator series of movies, remains a far distant prospect.

A badminton-playing robot on display at the conference could barely defend against a small boy’s serve, much less trigger the apocalypse.

And for China to lead the robot revolution, it will have to do more than design machines able to beat children at lawn sports — it will also have to overcome what many experts see as a penchant for mechanistic copying.

The Chinese vision of the future on display in the cavernous exhibition hall had a distinct whiff of the past.

Robots with a more than passing resemblance to mechanical super heroes Iron Man and Optimus Prime danced to the Chinese mega pop hit “Little Apple”, while booths pushed derivative Segways and Roombas.

Most of the remaining displays were heavy industry mechanical arms, leavened with robotic butlers reminiscent of a 1980s movie.

But manufacturers are making rapid progress, said Toshio Fukuda, an expert on robotics at Japan’s Nagoya University, adding that imitation was a way-station on the road to innovation.

“In the beginning, you just make a copy. There’s no creativity,” he said, noting that Japan too was once criticised for having a copycat culture.

“It’s a process. They have to improve.”

Asked about the possibility of future robots turning against their masters and taking over the world, he laughed.

“Maybe in 30 or 40 years,” he said. “But I’m not worried. I won’t still be alive.”

Do you go full speed ahead without any restraint, or at least as far as your wallet lets you, or do you try to spend as little as possible on information technology? Do you opt for a compromise and believe that, in a general manner, this is the wisest attitude to adopt? If you think you spend reasonably, then what is reasonable when it comes to computers, the Internet, smartphones and the like?

Enterprises have learnt their lesson well, many years ago. They usually allocate a substantial part of their expenditure to their IT department. They perfectly realise its importance, what it brings to their business and most importantly what the dire consequences of trying to skimp in such a critical department would be.

Understandably home and small business users are not always as wise as big enterprises when it comes to this matter. Whereas some would go to extremes by always being up to date with the latest, the fastest and nothing but the very best, other would play the penny-pinching game and make do with the bare minimum.

The truth is that keeping up with IT is rewarding. Regardless of whether you think you need or don’t need this device or that Cloud service, you need to communicate with your friends, family and colleagues today. This alone makes it essential to have new devices, new software and to have subscriptions to the services everybody uses. It’s about being in or being out — as simple as that.

Still, and since very few people have unlimited budget, knowing what is expensive and what is less, can help to spend more smartly. As a general rule, hardware is considered to be relatively inexpensive, whereas services, software licences and in a rather insidious manner, Cloud services, are becoming expensive.

Imagine that a good laptop, a mid-range model, would cost you JD600, but that Windows and Office Pro are almost as costly. Not to mention programmes like Photoshop which will set you back some JD400 — per year! Adobe products are now only available as Cloud subscriptions.

And then there are these little things you spend here and there on the Web and that add up significantly. Countless Cloud services charge you less than JD10 per year. Deezer music streaming is one of them, for example. Several Cloud storage charge less than JD20 per year. Go for a few of these and you can find yourself paying JD200 to JD300 every year without even realising it.

One item that I find very cost-effective is my ADSL annual subscription. For about JD400 a year it gives me 24Mbps speed and unlimited download. When I think of all that I can do thanks to this lifeline I find it money well spent. The savings in international phone calls alone would more than justify the expense. For instance, thanks to Skype paid calls (Skype Credit) it costs me 2.3 cents a minute to call the USA or Canada. Of course, I wouldn’t mind if my ISP would lower its rates even more, but…

On the other hand high-end smartphones are rather expensive. Not that they are not useful, quite the opposite actually. I use mine extensively and benefit from virtually all of its functionalities, but given that it costs almost the price of a laptop computer and that most of us replace our smartphone every two years, on average, it becomes a rather expensive device. Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge Plus with 64GB storage is a “mere” $1,050 on Amazon and around JD800 in Amman.

Perhaps one way to see a top of the line smartphone as not-so-expensive equipment is to remember that it is indeed: a great mobile telephone, a great camera, a great Web browser, a great e-mailer, a great memo recorder, a great music player, etc.

One has to try and strike a good balance, but IT has definitely become a major expense chapter in our life, be it at the personal level or in the workplace. Being reasonable is to spend substantial amounts of money on it and to know that in most cases it is well spent and rewarding.

SEATTLE — Amazon boss and space pioneer Jeff Bezos scored a historic technical achievement Monday when his secretive Blue Origin space travel company successfully sent a rocket 100 kilometres into space and then, in a carefully controlled descent, landed it upright just four and a half feet from the centre of its launchpad.

“Here in mission control in West Texas, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” Bezos said in a media conference call Tuesday. “It was one of the greatest moments of my life.”

Blue Origin released the news of its feat, complete with dramatic video of the lift-off and landing at its remote test launch site in Van Horn, Texas, a day after it happened.

The New Shepard rocket — named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space — delivered an empty crew capsule into space. The capsule, using parachutes, also landed safely 11 minutes after lift-off.

But it was the controlled return of the launch rocket that was a first. Until now, space rockets have been expendable — used once, then allowed to fall into the ocean.

“Not any more,” Bezos wrote in a blog post. “Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts, a used rocket.”

In the teleconference, Bezos described the ability to land a rocket so it can be used again, thus sharply reducing the enormous cost of putting vehicles into space, as “the Holy Grail of rocketry”.

“To get full re-use, to [be able to] refuel and fly again, to eventually get to something closer to aircraft-type operations, that has to be the vision,” he said.

Blue Origin tried to achieve this on its initial test flight in April, but failed when a hydraulic system malfunctioned. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has come close on three occasions, but hasn’t yet succeeded.

In this space race between the billionaires, Bezos now has bragging rights.

Blue Origin’s rocket used a unique ring fin to shift the centre of pressure aft to help control reentry and descent and eight large drag brakes deployed and reduced the vehicle’s terminal speed to 623km per hour.

Then, hydraulically actuated fins steered the vehicle through 191kph high-altitude crosswinds to a precise location 1,525 metres above the landing pad. At that point, the rocket’s engine re-ignited to slow it as the landing gear deployed.

New Shephard descended the last 30 metres at 7kph to touch down on the launchpad.

“I believe this is a new Golden Age of space exploration. The first Golden Age was the ‘60s. We have been treading water for a long time,” said Bezos. “We are on the verge of a new Golden Age in rocketry. I believe one day all rockets will have landing gear.”

Describing the planned trajectory for his New Shepard project in some detail for the first time Tuesday, Bezos said Blue Origin’s schedule will be “step-by-step, very methodical” and will take a human crew into space “when we’re ready and not before.”

“We’re going to do many, many test flights before we’re ready to put humans on board,” he said. “We’ll do some very stressful, challenging flights.”

“Hopefully a couple of years from now we’ll be putting humans on New Shepard and taking them into space,” Bezos added.

Bezos described one planned test flight that he said will be “very dramatic” — testing the crew capsule escape system. If something goes wrong on the way up, the capsule has a separate rocket motor that can fire to push it away from the main rocket. Bezos said this will be tested in flight when the launch rocket is at maximum aerodynamic stress.

“That will almost certainly destroy the booster, but we want to test that condition to verify the design of the escape system,” Bezos said.

Bezos said his engineers learn from each test flight and may modify sub-systems as they progress. After the hydraulics failed in April, Bezos said, Blue Origin completely redesigned the hydraulic system and it worked perfectly this time.

Asked how soon the rocket that just landed could go back into space, Bezos said preliminary checks suggested it is essentially ready, though more thorough inspections must be done. “We’ll have to wait some number of weeks before we can fly that hardware again.”

Bezos also talked about plans to take the next step beyond just reaching space and coming back down minutes later: going fast enough to stay up there, meaning going into orbit around the Earth.

Blue Origin is building a bigger, more sophisticated orbital spacecraft that will take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. But Bezos said his engineers have just nailed the most difficult part of the orbital mission plan with the re-entry and landing of New Shepard.

“We’ll take that same exact architecture we just demonstrated and use it on the booster stage of our orbital vehicle,” Bezos said. “The re-entry and final landing will be identical.”

For that orbital vehicle, however, the plan is to land the booster rocket “on an ocean-going platform down range” of Cape Canaveral.

That is exactly what Musk has been trying to achieve with SpaceX. Each time he’s tried, his rocket has tipped into the ocean.

The Blue Origin success prompted something of a snit between the two billionaires. On Twitter, Musk first congratulated Blue Origin, but then pointedly noted that achieving sub-orbital space flight for a few minutes is far short of going into orbit. SpaceX’s Falcon rockets have boosted spacecraft into orbit to deliver goods to the International Space Station.

And playing down Blue Origin’s achievement, Musk noted that credit for the first reusable suborbital rocket goes to the 1960s-era X-15 Air Force rocket plane.

However, the X-15 was never designed to go into orbit. Bezos’ orbital system will be bigger than New Shepard but will share the same architecture.

On the conference call, Bezos responded to Musk’s tweeted remarks by noting that Blue Origin’s New Shepard had just achieved “the hardest part of vertical landing and re-usability … the final landing segment” — the feat SpaceX’s Falcon rockets have not yet achieved.

And Bezos, who retains the enthusiasm he had as a 5-year-old boy watching the Apollo missions on TV, can certainly match Musk in ambition.

Musk says he wants to go to Mars and make space travel routine. Bezos equally aims to make science fiction a reality.

“The long-term vision is to see an enduring human presence in space. We want to see millions of people living and working in space,” said Bezos. “It’ll be a very fun test programme. It’s very fun to fly.”

Every child has their most frequently used phrase that, kind of, encapsulated their childhood. You see, like my brother’s was, “I don’t know”, which was an answer to almost all the questions my mother put to him after he misplaced his water-bottle, books, schoolbag, lunchbox, et al. 

Mine, on the other hand was, “Show me”, since I was always bursting with curiosity about anything and everything. I believe the minute our daughter was born, I blurted this too, through waves of postnatal exhaustion. I remember the doctor smiling warily before she handed me my brand new baby. 

Our delightful kid grew up amidst regular chants of “Mummy, look at me”! If I was busy in the kitchen, I would hear her childish treble exclaim, “Papa, look at me”. Whatever the little-one did, whether it was serving tea from a tiny toy teapot, painting a large cookie monster or giving us an imaginary baking demonstration, her most consistent refrain to her parents was to “look at her”.

Which we did, most of the time, but being a good-natured sort of baby, she did not mind if we did not give her our undivided attention. Except while she was dancing in front of the television, which was when we had to drop whatever we were doing and watch her.

Now the thing is, when she was three years old she discovered that she pirouetted best in front of the TV when the news was going on. The top of her tiny head barely reached the bottom of the television screen that was placed on a wooden stand in our living room. I don’t know whether it was my husband or me who encouraged her to dance when the news was playing but it was a brilliant strategy on our part. This way, our eyes could easily shift between the screen and her twirling form, without her having to utter the plaintive entreaty, even once. 

As she grew taller her head started blocking out the screen in front of us and we had to find a polite way to ask her to step aside. And then suddenly, one day, she decided to stop dancing to the news and we realised that she had grown-up. 

Lately, as a senior researcher for a political think tank in London, our daughter has been on the global news channels quite a bit. As we watch her being interrogated by some of the finest minds in international journalism, our hearts swell with pride. 

The minute we get to know that she is going to be broadcast live at any particular time, we get our respective iPhone cameras and position ourselves around the idiot box. The image of her as a little girl twirling joyfully in front of the television screen recurs repeatedly in my mind’s eye. I wonder if any other child in some another part of the world is similarly dancing to my daughter’s voice during the news transmission. 

“Can you move your arm from my line of vision?” my husband said the other day. 

“But your elbow is blocking my recording,” I complained. 

“You record the footage then,” my spouse muttered, moving away. 

“Why are you back?” I asked as he returned the next minute. 

“Did you hear that?” he whispered.

“Show me,” I said automatically. 

“She just said, ‘Papa look at me!’” he grinned. 

“You are imagining things,” I mumbled. 

“No, no,” he protested. 

“She said, ‘Mummy look at me’,” I corrected. 

LOS ANGELES — “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” dominated the weekend box office. The final film in the science-fiction franchise debuted to $102.7 million, but even that massive figure wasn’t as big a sendoff for Katniss Everdeen and her fellow revolutionaries as some had predicted.

The bow ranks as the year’s fifth biggest opening, but it falls short of tracking that projected the picture would top $120 million in its initial weekend in theatres. It also represents a low for the series, falling far short of the $158.1 million high-water mark established by 2013’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. It’s a sign, perhaps, that interest in the dystopian world of Panem has crested.

Investors in Lionsgate, the studio behind the series, reacted negatively to news that “Mockingjay — Part 2” would miss projections, sending the company’s stock down more than 3 per cent on Friday. For its part, the studio was put in the odd position of almost having to defend a debut that ranks among the largest in movie history.

“It’s a phenomenal opening and we launched these movies at this time consciously knowing there’d be a lucrative long run way through the holidays,” said David Spitz, Lionsgate’s domestic distribution chief.

The series made up some ground overseas, picking up $147 million after debuting in nearly every significant foreign territory, including China. That left it with a worldwide haul of $247 million, less than the $274.9 million global kickoff enjoyed by “Mockingjay — Part 1” and far below the $300 million weekend that some analysts had predicted.

“Across the board this is just down and it’s a direct reflection of how people thought about [‘Mockingjay — Part 1],” said Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “That was not a film. It was just a trailer.”

Lionsgate spared no expense in planning a farewell to its most valuable series. It spent nearly $200 million to make and market the film. In the US the film did well in premium formats, earning an estimated $9.8 million, and Imax, where it picked up $8.5 million.

With “Mockingjay — Part 2” sucking most of the air out the multiplexes that left two new releases, Sony’s “The Night Before” and STX/IM Global’s “The Secret In Their Eyes”, struggling to get some recognition. “The Night Before,” a bawdy comedy with Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, fared best, earning $9.9 million from 2,960 theatres. The film cost $23 million to make, and drew an opening weekend crowd that was evenly split between men and women.

Sony distribution chief Rory Bruer noted that there won’t be another mainstream comedy in the marketplace until Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s “Sisters” debuts on December 16. He predicted the film would “get that pop” of playing into the holidays, and noted that the film received an A-minus CinemaScore.

“People love this movie,” said Bruer. “It’s one of those movies that you see with an audience and you want to throw up you’re laughing so hard.”

“The Secret In Their Eyes” faces fiercer headwinds. The remake of an Oscar-winning Argentinian thriller of the same name earned a disappointing $6.7 million for a fifth place finish. The story of a team of FBI agents involved in a murder investigation stars Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It cost $19.5 million to produce, and is the latest in a string of films pitched at adult audiences such as “By the Sea” and “Steve Jobs”, to whiff at the box office this fall.

Despite the weak opening, STX, which bought domestic rights with Route One to the film for $6.5 million, expressed confidence that “The Secret In Their Eyes” would find its audience over the holidays.

“We feel this is too early in the process to give us a full grade,” said Kevin Grayson, distribution chief at STX. “This is going to factor into the Thanksgiving play period, and the twists and surprise ending are going to keep water cooler conversation going.”

The weakness of the new films allowed holdovers “Spectre” and “The Peanuts Movie” to pad their box office results. The latest Bond adventure added $15 million to its $154.1 million domestic haul, nabbing second place on the charts. “The Peanuts Movie” finished third, picking up $12.8 million to push its stated total to $99.3 million.

In limited release, the Weinstein Company scored with “Carol”. The critically heralded love story with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara generated $248,149 from four theatres for a strong per-location average of $62,037.

“Reviews and word of mouth will drive this film,” said Erik Lomis, distribution chief at the Weinstein Company. “These are fantastic performances by Rooney and Cate and Todd Haynes delivered some great filmmaking.”

Universal had more trouble finding its audience for “Legend”. The violent gangster picture about the Kray twins saw Tom Hardy doing double duty as the crime boss brothers, but critics were lukewarm, and the picture nabbed a so-so $83,000 from four theatres for a per-screen average of $20,271.

With “Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” not hitting as big a bullseye as other pictures in the series, the overall box office tumbled. Ticket sales were down roughly 10 per cent for the weekend, down from the year-ago period that fielded “Mockingjay — Part 1’s” $121.9 million opening.

“The overall marketplace is slow,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “There’s too many movies, too many distractions, and so much going on in the world right now.”