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DETROIT — With a thumb swipe on a smartphone, your car one day will be able to drive into a parking deck, find an open spot and back into a space — all by itself.

Technology being honed by French auto parts maker Valeo uses a dozen ultrasonic sound-wave sensors, 360-degree cameras and a laser scanner to safely park within a few centimetres of other vehicles. Then, when you’re done with dinner or a business meeting, the car will return to you after another swipe of the thumb.

The potential benefits are plenty. More orderly parking means less congestion. Drivers are spared the time and frustration of the hunt for a spot. Parking lots can squeeze more vehicles into limited space.

The fully-automated system called “Connected Automated Valet Parking” is still about a decade away, however. More states must permit driverless cars and regulations have to be crafted. Equipment needs to be rolled out.

Still, Valeo executives see it as a big step towards the day in the distant future when cars actually drive themselves with no one behind the wheel.

Other companies have already demonstrated self-parking systems, but in most cases the driver has to find the spot and activate the system to make it work. The Valeo system, demonstrated Monday at an intelligent vehicle conference in Detroit using a Land Rover SUV, allows cars today to do tasks currently performed by human valets.

“The car is able to do a much better parking manoeuvre than we as humans,” said Amine Taleb, Valeo’s project manager for advanced driver assistance systems.

Here’s how it works: Drivers approach their destination and the system finds a deck with an open space. The driver goes to the deck and activates the system. The deck then tells the car where the open space is. The sensors, cameras and laser activate, letting the car drive itself about 4.8kph, winding its way to the space and backing in. The system can even find a space on its own without a signal from a deck.

The system won’t let the car hit anything, Taleb says. And it can brake and even take action on its own to evade a hazard such as another moving car. A driver can even watch the car park through the cameras and software that simulates an aerial view.

Although the technology is already available, there are hurdles. Only nine states allow driverless cars on public roads, and then only for testing purposes, said Scott Belcher, CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, the group holding the conference.

Also, parking decks will have to be equipped with systems to communicate with cars. Radio frequencies haven’t been allocated yet by the federal government. The auto industry is vying with the cell phone industry for the bandwidth, for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, Belcher said.

Cyber security guidelines and government regulations have to be put in place. And legal liability has to be sorted out if the car somehow gets into a wreck.

What’s likely within five years is an interim step: The driver finds the space and the car then parks itself. Taleb wouldn’t say if an auto company is interested in buying the self-parking system.

The traffic benefits alone are tremendous. Omno Zoeter, a senior research scientist at Xerox, says some studies show as many as 30 per cent of urban drivers are looking for parking at any given time.

Eugene Tsyrklevich, the CEO of Parkopedia, an app that monitors more than 30 million parking spaces in 45 countries to help drivers park, predicts a decade of transition as cars and then parking garages adopt technology.

“Driving around looking for a space is not dead yet,” said Tsyrklevich. “But it will be.”

This week I complete the 200th run. Of my column Talespin, that is. Four years ago, when I was a brand-new resident of Jordan, I did not realise how far this literary journey would take me. 

I took up the job on a whim. I liked the newspaper office, the friendly staff and the enthusiastic editor. Besides, the elderly doorman who escorted me into a lift, on the day of my interview, had the kindest smile I have ever seen. He wished me luck in a language I did not understand. But the sentiments behind the wish were unmistakable.

Once there, I naively floated various random ideas, which were easily approved. I was asked to send some pieces, in the next several days. I went home, and spun a few tales, typed them as neatly as I could, and handed them in. 

A picture was requested of me, to add to my byline. I mailed them the one that I had in the saved folder of my computer. It was clicked in Zanzibar on a windy morning. I was wearing dark sunglasses, and a part of my face was concealed behind my windswept locks.

It was a perfect snap because it did not even look like me. Unless you enlarged the photograph, and peered rather closely at it, but who had the inclination to do that? I loved it. Also, it gave me the added assurance of being able to write incognito. I mean, who wanted to be roughed up by an irate manager after he read my rather uncomplimentary musings on his restaurant?

But, the subeditor rejected my favourite photo, at first glance. Entire face not visible, was his cryptic response to my melodramatic pleas of, why, O why? I took two days to get over my sulk, and then sent him a picture of myself in front of the Qutub Minar, wearing an artificial smile. This one was accepted, and ran for the first two years and then, as often happens with major reshufflings, my article was moved to a new page, minus my mug shot.

But by now I had a small following of regulars, who did not care if my visage accompanied the write-ups or not. All they looked forward to was my weekly spin, on the spin. Actually, look forward is a very mild term here. I can today understand the dilemma of people, whose creations become larger than the creator.

If, for any reason, I were unable to provide the addictive dose, I got a barrage of brickbats from far and near. The worst accusation I got was from one of my so-called fans in San Diego, who accused me of spoiling his entire week, when he could not find my column online.

But the bouquets were greater in number. It humbled me. Always! Difficult to name all of them here, but for those, who in a relentlessly consistent manner, reviewed my work, and gave feedback, here is a big thank you.

The inspector general of police in Calcutta, the ex army officer, presently an organic farmer in Mhow, the two brilliant college professors, who are also real-life sisters, the popular lady teacher in Jamshedpur, and the vivacious one in Chandigarh, the cheerful live-wire in Texas, the commercial attaché at the American embassy, the businessman whose daughter is getting married in January, and the erudite booklover of Chennai.

From a writer to her readers: Shukran Jazeelan.

SAN FRANCISCO — Hotly anticipated video game “Destiny” soared at launch on Tuesday, setting a trajectory intended to eclipse the blockbuster hit its makers had with “Halo”.

“Destiny” from Bungie studio was the most pre-ordered new video game franchise in history, according to publisher Activision.

“Destiny is the game we’ve always wanted to make,” Bungie President Harold Ryan said in a launch release.

“We’ve dreamt of this universe for years, so we couldn’t be more thrilled to swing open the doors and let fans shape this experience as they tell their unique stories in the game.”

The game puts players in the role of guardians of the last city on Earth, with enemies to battle; special powers to wield, and planets to explore.

Console processing power and Internet capabilities have been taken advantage of to create “an unprecedented combination” of play options from spontaneous cooperative online skirmishes to immersive solo action.

“Destiny has been a labour of love and a remarkable creative journey for everyone at Activision and Bungie,” said Activision chief executive Eric Hirshberg.

“We feel that we have the opportunity to launch something huge — not just into the gaming landscape, but the pop cultural landscape.”

Versions of “Destiny” were released for play on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles as well as their predecessors the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Topping ‘Halo’

Bungie is out to eclipse the enviable success it had with “Halo” with massive new science-fiction action title “Destiny”.

Those behind the video game franchise envision it spanning a decade or more, with new installments released over time.

The first “expansion pack” adding more missions and activities to the game is set for release in December.

“We’re really proud of the world we created with ‘Halo’, and the millions of gamers we attracted, but with ‘Destiny’ we wanted the worlds to be bigger and feel more alive,” Bungie studio chief operating officer Pete Parsons told AFP.

“To do that, we added in the most exciting and unpredictable ingredient we could think of: players. Destiny’s worlds are connected and alive.”

Armies of players joined the virtual fray during a test run of “Destiny” online capabilities in recent months.

The number of players topped 4.6 million, making it the largest test run ever for a new video game franchise, according to Activision Publishing.

At one point during the test run, more than 850,000 people were playing simultaneously.

“For us, the next generation of games is all about allowing players to collide and interact with each other as they take on epic, action packed adventures all their own,” Ryan said.

Players inspired to invest lots of time in the game can form clans, customise characters, or tackle challenges.

A compelling aspect of “Destiny” is that players can move easily about a seemingly boundless virtual universe, slipping into or out of battles raging between online players.

Place worthy of heroes

The game is priced at $60, but special edition versions with added perks and higher prices are being offered.

“The world is a stage — a place worthy of heroes,” Parsons said.

“We love telling big, epic stories with legends and villains, but we also do everything we can to make players the star of the show.”

Microsoft bought US-based Bungie in 2000 and the studio came out with “Halo” games that scored as a blockbuster franchise exclusively playable on Xbox.

Some in the industry credit “Halo” with being the franchise on which the success of the Xbox was built.

Bungie split from Microsoft about seven years ago and went on to align itself with Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind “Call of Duty” and other hit franchises.

NEW YORK — Motorola last week rolled out a circular smartwatch, counting on a more traditional design to win over consumers who have so far shunned other computerised wrist devices.

Smartwatches so far have had rectangular faces, a shape that has turned off many consumers, said Steve Sinclair, Motorola’s vice president of product management. Motorola’s Moto 360 is round and has an all-metal frame, making it look more like a regular watch.

“People don’t want to wear a shrunken-down smartphone on their wrist,” Sinclair said.

Reshaping the smartwatch still might not be enough to sway consumers’ attitudes. Apart from design, smartwatches have had limited appeal because of their small displays and a requirement to have a companion smartphone nearby. Technology companies have yet to make a compelling case for why everyday consumers need them.

Nonetheless, mobile device makers are still pinning their hopes on smartwatches spurring more sales to consumers who already have smartphones and tablet computers and aren’t looking to upgrade right away. Samsung and Sony already have smartwatches out, and new models are coming this fall.

Friday’s debut of the Moto 360 comes a week after LG Electronics Inc. announced its own circular smartwatch, the G Watch R. LG’s watch won’t be available for at least a month, though, and its price wasn’t immediately announced.

Both watches use Google’s Android Wear operating system. The system uses voice controls for basic functions, such as reading messages, checking the weather and getting reminders on calendar appointments.

The Moto 360 costs $250 and started shipping Friday. That comes with a leather band. A metal-band version will come out this fall for $300.

Motorola, which Google plans to sell to Lenovo this year, also announced updates to two of its phones.

The Moto G will grow to 5 inches, from 4.5 inches in last year’s model. The camera is also improved to 8 megapixels, rather than 5 megapixels. It will start at $180 in the US with no contract requirement. The new version will have 3G cellular access only. Motorola will continue selling a 4G version of the old model for $219.

Meanwhile, the flagship Moto X will enlarge to 5.2 inches, from 4.7 inches, and will start at $500. It will have a 13 megapixel camera, up from 10 megapixels. The Moto X distinguishes itself from rival phones by allowing people to customise the backs when ordering. Wood and leather backs will be available for a higher price.

There’s also a new Bluetooth headset, the Moto Hint. Headsets have typically been limited to phone calls. The Moto Hint will also allow users to control the Moto X phone with voice commands.

After smartphones, smartwatches and smart glasses, as in the computerised Google Glass, what’s next?

Smart rings, perhaps.

A Sunnyvale, California, startup called Mota unveiled a prototype of its SmartRing at the IFA gadget show in Berlin this week. Co-founder Kevin Faro said the device will alert users when they receive a call or message.

To avoid message overload, the ring can be set to filter out everyone except those from contacts designated as important. Other companies will be able to build apps that interact with the ring, opening up the possibility of getting alerts on stock prices, eBay sales and Uber rides.

BERLIN — It's long been the stuff of science fiction, but tech giants hope the "smart home", where gadgets talk to each other and the fridge orders the milk, will soon become reality.

The futuristic vision of wireless domestic bliss that puts people and their smartphones or tablets at the centre of an "Internet of Things" is a key theme at this year's IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.

Industry titans such as Google, Samsung and Apple have been battling for an early lead in the race to create the Internet-connected household, a market they expect to grow into the next multi-billion-dollar tech revolution.

The smart home is heading "towards a mass-market reality", said Lisa Arrowsmith of market research firm IHS.

The new driving force, she said, is "the rise of the smartphone and its role as a common user interface to allow remote and in-home control of devices such as thermostats, smart plugs or security systems".

Talk of creating the "automated home" has been around since at least the 1980s, but was hobbled by technical hurdles, from tangled cables to costly interfaces and compatibility problems between appliance manufacturers.

Now the dream is back with a vengeance as companies foresee a world of synced devices, where motorists remotely switch on the heating as they drive home and holidaymakers watch over their houses from the beach with security camera footage.

At the IFA in Berlin, South Korea's Samsung presented its 2020 vision of the "house of the future", replete with a hologram chef who gives step-by-step cooking instructions and digital sports coaches that keep an eye on your morning workout.

"For many it's still just a vision, but change is coming and it's coming fast," promised Samsung Electronics co-CEO Boo-Keun "BK" Yoon.

"Just remember how quickly, in just a few years, smartphones and tablets have changed our lives."

'Internet of Things' 

To add innovation muscle to its smart home push, Samsung in August bought the US start-up SmartThings, which is developing apps to link up electric devices and household appliances, for a reported 200 million dollars (155 million euros).

The move came after Google in January paid a jaw-dropping 3.2 billion dollars for Nest Labs, which makes fire alarms and sophisticated thermostats that save energy, and can detect whether people are at home or out.

"The Internet of Things is the breakthrough that was needed to make the smart home possible," said Annette Zimmermann of IT research and advisory company Gartner Research.

Last year some 17 million home automation devices were sold, according to analysts at ABI Research, which predicts their number will top half a billion units by 2018.

Big industry players are now battling to establish the dominant platform for the intelligent home.

Among them is Microsoft, which has already entered living rooms with its Xbox game console that can sense movement and speech via its Kinect system, and is designed as a hub for online activity.

Apple recently presented the HomeKit, a platform to connect compatible devices and a space where software developers can create the necessary applications.

"Competition is fierce because the market is wide open," said Julien De Preaumont, marketing director of Withings, a pioneer in France that makes Internet-connected bathroom scales, home surveillance systems and other devices.

"Consumers are adopting new products and it is their practices which will determine the future."

Electronics makers must still overcome consumer scepticism, and convince people to part ways with their dumb toaster and dishwasher to embrace a life of total connectivity.

Some worry about the privacy implications of the massive online data streams that would control and monitor virtually every aspect of their lives, from the food in their fridge to the laundry in their washing machine.

"The issue of data protection is going to be a huge one," said Zimmermann, "obviously even more so because we have very different privacy laws from one continent to another".

The addition of a mobile payments service to Apple Inc's next iPhone could help to boost sales of the larger-screen phones and claw back market share lost to mobiles running on Google Inc's Android platform.

Apple shares rose as much as 1.3 per cent on Wednesday, a day after the launch of the iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch — the first new product introduced by Chief Executive Tim Cook.

At least six brokerages raised their price target on Apple's stock by as much as $16 to a high of $116, but there was also a rare downgrade to the stock.

Many on Wall Street hailed Apple Pay — the company's new wireless payment system — with Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster calling it the "star of the show" at Tuesday's gala launch.

It will allow iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users to pay for a burger at McDonald's Corp. or groceries at Whole Foods Market Inc. at the tap of a button, using their American Express Co., Visa Inc. or Mastercard Inc. bank cards.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Motorola Mobility and others include similar wireless technology in many Android smartphones. But with payment systems such as Google's Wallet failing to catch on, the technology is not standard in handsets.

"On the mobile payments front, we believe the company made a major breakthrough, and cracked an important and vexing issue that has plagued the industry for several years regarding customer ownership," William Blair analysts wrote in a note.

Cook, who took over as CEO from Steve Jobs in 2011, has been under pressure to launch new services and come up with larger-screen phones to counter Samsung's popular Galaxy Note phablets.

Worldwide market share of iPhones, which contribute more than half of Apple's revenue, slipped to 11.7 per cent for the quarter ended June from 13 per cent a year earlier, according to research firm IDC. (http://bit.ly/Vqxmts)

"Apple Pay is a feature that should help sell Apple products and provide some small help to the bottom line," BMO Capital Markets analysts said.

But Andy Hargreaves, analyst at Pacific Crest, said growth potential from the iPhone 6 was largely priced into Apple's shares. He cut his rating to "sector perform" from "outperform", becoming the first analyst since May to downgrade the stock.

Apple Watch, the company's first new product since the iPad, is tethered to the iPhone 6 models. Starting at $349, it will receive phone calls and messages, play music and serve as a digital wallet to pay for goods.

The watch, which will go on sale in the United States next year, has received mixed reactions. Fashion commentators like its clean aesthetic, while some tech writers pointed out Apple's silence over battery life.

Sony Corp., Samsung, LG Electronics Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. have launched smartwatches based on Google's Android Wear, without great success.

"Apple Watch is attractive, but the need for phone tethering, short battery life and lack of compelling features for people who do not want a watch will limit the market," Hargreaves said.

Apple shares were up slightly at $98.18 in morning trading. They closed down 0.38 per cent on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.

CUPERTINO, California — For the first time in years, Apple's iPhones are not the star of the show. Apple unveiled a smartwatch called the Apple Watch on Tuesday, a wearable device that marks the company's first major entry in a new product category since the iPad's debut in 2010.

The move is significant because of recent questions about whether Apple still has a knack for innovating following the 2011 death of co-founder Steve Jobs.

The device's introduction upstaged the company's two new, larger iPhones, which won't just have bigger screens; they'll have a new, horizontal viewing mode to take advantage of the larger display.

The iPhone 6 will have a screen measuring 4.7 inches, while the iPhone 6 Plus will be 5.5 inches. In both cases, app developers will be able to design apps that can be viewed differently when the phone is held horizontally.

Apple also introduced a system for using the phone to make credit card payments at retail stores.

Apple is turning to the past as it lays out its future. The company held the event at the Flint Centre for the Performing Arts, the same venue where Jobs unveiled the industry-shifting Mac computer 25 years ago. The Cupertino, California, venue is near Apple's headquarters.

As for the iPhones, which still represent the main source of Apple's profits, larger models should help the company compete with Android devices.

Here's what's coming out of Tuesday's event:

Larger iPhones

Now, Apple is increasing that. The iPhone 6 will have a 4.7-inch screen, while the iPhone 6 Plus will be 5.5 inches. The screen resolution on the Plus version will be sharper than previous iPhones, at 401 pixels per inch rather than 326.

With the larger screen comes a new horizontal view of the home screen. Usually, icons are stacked vertically, even when the phone is turned horizontally. App developers will also have new tools to rearrange their content to take advantage of that larger screen.

The new phones aren't as big as Samsung's latest flagship phones — 5.1 inches for the Galaxy S5 and 5.7 inches for the Note 4 — but they will be large enough to neutralise a key advantage Samsung and other Android manufacturers have had.

Notably, Samsung's Note phone isn't getting bigger this year. Last year's Note 3 was 5.7 inches. Instead, Samsung is emphasising other hardware features, such as a sharper screen. It's also releasing a model with a curved edge to display weather, time and other information on the side of the phone.

Apple says the new phones will be faster and have better battery life than previous versions. The phones will also have a new sensor, the barometer, to estimate how much you've climbed stairs, not just how far you've walked or run.

Of course, some people still use their phones to actually make calls. When there's poor cellular reception, people will be able to make regular calls over Wi-Fi. The handoff between the two networks will be seamless. In the US, this feature will initially be available through T-Mobile.

The resolution on the camera is staying at 8 megapixels, while rival Android and Windows phones have been boosting that. The S5, for instance, is at 16 megapixels. However, the megapixel count is only one factor in what makes a good photo. Apple says it is putting in new sensors for better shots.

Apple is also improving a slow-motion video feature by allowing even slower shots. The camera will be able to take 240 frames per second, double what's in last year's iPhone 5s. Normally, video is at 60 frames per second.

The new phones will start shipping in the US on September 19, with advance orders to begin this Friday. Starting prices will be comparable to those in the past — $199 with a two-year contract for the iPhone 6 with 16 gigabytes of storage.

However, the step-up models will have double the memory than before — $299 for 64 gigabytes and $399 for 128 gigabytes. The iPhone 6 Plus phones will cost $100 more at each configuration.

Mobile payments

Apple is calling its new payment system Apple Pay.

You'll be able to use your phone's camera to capture a photo of your card. Apple will verify it behind the scenes and add it to your phone's Passbook account so you can make payments at a retailer. Apple announced several merchants that will accept this system, including Macy's, Whole Foods, Walgreens and Disney stores — and of course, Apple stores.

Many companies have tried to push mobile payment services, but none has caught on widely. Cook says that's because the business models have been centred around companies' self-interest instead of the user experience. The latter, Cook says, is "exactly what Apple does best”.

For security, the card number is stored only on the device. Each time you pay, a one-time card number is created to make the transaction.

A smartwatch

The audience erupted with cheers as Cook proclaimed that he had, "one more thing”. It was how Jobs used to close his keynote addresses.

That one more thing was Apple's upcoming smartwatch. It's called the Apple Watch, rather than the iWatch that many people had been speculating.

Consumer electronics companies have yet to demonstrate a compelling need for smartwatches, while bracelets have largely been niche products aimed at tracking fitness activities. Apple's device looks to change that.

Consider the company's track record: Music players, smartphones and tablet computers existed long before Apple made its own versions. But they weren't mainstream or popular until the iPod, iPhone and iPad came along. Under Jobs, Apple made those products easy and fun to use.

Cook says Apple had to invent a new interface for the watch because simply shrinking a phone wouldn't work.

Much of the interaction would be through the dial on the watch, which Apple calls the digital crown. You use that to zoom in and out of a map, for instance, so you're not blocking the screen, which would have occurred if you were pinching in and out to zoom.

The new watch will come in a variety of styles and straps, with a choice of two sizes. Watches from competing vendors have been criticised for being too big for smaller arms.

New software

Though much of the attention has been on new gadgets, the software powering those gadgets is getting its annual refresh. Apple considers iOS 8 to be its biggest update since the introduction of the app store in 2008.

Existing iPhone and iPad users will be eligible for the free upgrade, too. Apple takes pride in pushing existing customers to the latest software, allowing app developers to incorporate new features without worrying about abandoning existing users. With Android, many recent phones can't be upgraded right away because of restrictions placed by manufacturers and wireless carriers.

Among other things, iOS 8 will let devices work better in sync. For instance, it'll be possible to start a message on an iPhone and finish it on an iPad. With an upcoming Mac upgrade called Yosemite, it'll be possible to continue working on that same message on a Mac computer as well.

The new iOS software will also let people do more things without jumping from app to app. For example, if a text message comes in as you're composing an e-mail, you'll be able to pull down the text from the top edge and send a reply, all without leaving the e-mail app.

A new keyboard aims to predict what you're about to type, going beyond standard spell-checking. You can install keyboards from outside parties, too, something Android already allows.

In fact, Apple is opening up more of its features to outside developers than in the past. The fingerprint sensor on iPhones won't be restricted to Apple's own services, for instance.

The new software will be available to existing users on September 17.

Home and health

Apple is rolling out the HomeKit and HealthKit systems. The idea is to turn Apple's products into a suite of digital servants that do everything from monitoring a person's eating habits and exercise routines to turning on the coffee maker in the morning.

Again, Apple isn't first in offering home and health monitoring systems. But consumers haven't rushed to buy those systems partly because products from various manufacturers don't always work with one another. With HomeKit and HealthKit, Apple is seeking to create some unity — with Apple's devices serving as a hub.

TOKYO — The artistic legacy of Hayao Miyazaki, the reclusive and bearded Academy Award-winning director and animator sometimes called Japan’s Walt Disney, has never been more certain.

Yet at the same time, the commercial future for Studio Ghibli, the privately held Tokyo studio he left behind in retirement, has never been more in doubt.

Under Miyazaki, Ghibli became famous for intricate, hand-drawn animation and imaginative coming-of-age story lines that made films like 1988’s “My Neighbour Totoro” into an international hit. A dozen years later, he masterminded what remains today as Japan’s highest grossing film, the Academy Award-winning “Spirited Away”.

In recognition, Hollywood is about to add its ultimate honour by giving Miyazaki, 73, a lifetime achievement Academy Award.

But the animation studio is finding that life after Miyazaki, who retired last year, is tough going.

Ghibli’s first release since the legendary animator’s departure, “When Marnie Was There”, has failed to catch fire with Japanese moviegoers over the summer.

Besides the gaping hole left by Miyazaki, Ghibli, like Japanese companies in other industries, faces a range of challenges: high payroll costs, low productivity and the rise of new and cheaper hubs for production elsewhere in Asia.

In six weeks, “Marnie,” the story of an asthmatic high school girl sent off for what becomes a summer marked by an unexpected and mysterious friendship, has taken in just $28 million at Japanese theatres. The mediocre takings comes as Ghibli’s fans and critics debate how and whether the studio will survive without the commercial magic of its founder.

Senior producer Toshio Suzuki made waves last month when he said in a series of interviews that Studio Ghibli might have to dismantle the expensive production system set up under Miyazaki, which included employing full-time animators in Japan.

“We’re going to spring clean and restructure,” Suzuki, 66, said in an interview with TBS broadcasting.

Suzuki said the studio would take a break and could re-launch with a different and lower-cost business model that could shift production from Japan to Southeast Asia or Taiwan.

“Ideas will be formed in Japan and the animation could be made in another country,” he said. “It will be ‘Made in Asia’.”

Ghibli declined to make Suzuki or Miyazaki available for comment. A studio spokeswoman, who declined to be named, said the privately held company, had no further comment on its plans.

Quality — at a price

Famous for starting production without a complete script, Miyazaki insisted on working in pencil and spurned computer animation, resulting in intricately drawn frames and very long production spans. Some feature animations consist of about 10,000 drawings, but Ghibli’s sometimes exceed 80,000.

In fact, Ghibli, under Miyazaki, made a virtue of its high-cost approach, doing everything — and working deliberately — from an ivy-covered, three-storey building in Tokyo’s western suburbs.

Ryusuke Hikawa, an expert on Japanese animation, estimates Ghibli was averaging just five minutes of animation production a month, given its recent pace of producing a feature every two years.

That was sustainable when the studio, with Miyazaki at the helm, was turning out consistent hits. The nine Ghibli films that he directed averaged a box office take of $115 million.

“Spirited Away,” which came out in 2001 and won the Academy Away for best animated feature, remains Japan’s highest grossing film, taking nearly $300 million at the box office — ahead of both “Titanic” and Disney’s “Frozen”.

Box office takings are particularly important for Ghibli because the company has limited spin-off merchandising, another break from the approach of Hollywood studios which long ago abandoned hand-drawn animation for computers. In June, Suzuki told a podcast for fans he had cautioned staff to keep merchandising sales below $100 million to sharpen the focus on moviemaking.

In part, as a result, Ghibli has had a volatile earnings record, according to credit rating agency Tokyo Shoko Research, which audited the studio’s books. In the fiscal year that ended March 2012, it earned $9 million. That dropped to $5 million in 2013 and then jumped to $30 million in the just-ended fiscal year, reflecting the success of Miyazaki’s last film, “The Wind Rises”.

Fans are focusing on “Marnie” because it is the first Ghibli film shaped entirely without the involvement of Miyazaki, Suzuki or the other famed Ghibli director, Isao Takahata.

Yuichi Maeda, a movie critic, said the film’s director, 41-year-old Hiromasa Yonebayashi, had delivered brilliantly drawn animation, but without the energy of a Miyazaki film. The studio said overseas distribution plans have yet to be decided.

Maeda said he did not believe Ghibli could prosper without Miyazaki’s guiding hand. “Ghibli’s popularity, unlike Pixar or Disney, depends on who directs its movies,” he said. “I don’t think Ghibli without Miyazaki can succeed.”

By Melissa Healy

Los Angeles Times (MCT)

It’s a common rookie mistake, but plenty of diet-and-exercise veterans make it, too: With an act of will, you muster yourself to the gym or the track, and you gut your way through an arduous workout. When you sit down to dinner or go to the break room later that day, you say to yourself, “By God, I’ve earned this (sugary soda, yummy snack, second helping, dessert, second glass of wine). I worked hard today!”

A week or so later, you’re standing on the scale wondering what happened.

Answer: You forgot to have fun.

A new study delves into one of the great mysteries of diet, exercise and weight loss: why, when you’ve started a gruelling exercise regimen in a bid to shape up, it’s common to gain, not lose weight. Sure, there’s the old reassurance that muscles weigh more than fat. But when the weight gain comes before any evidence that we’ve changed our body composition significantly, I think we all know we’re kidding ourselves.

“Framing” — or the way we think about — the experience of exercise matters, a trio of researchers at Cornell University’s food psychology lab found. More specifically, they found, it influences not only what we choose to eat after the experience, but how much of it.

When we think of the physical activity we engage in as fun, or at least incidental to fun, we make better food choices. When we frame physical activity as exercise, we’re more likely to choose rewarding foods and to eat more of them, the study found.

The study, recently published in the journal Marketing Letters, was ingeniously simple. College administrative staff members were told to wear comfortable shoes and were promised a free lunch after they completed their task. Half the subjects were handed a map, told that the purpose of the study was to exercise, and sent on a 30-minute, 1.6km course with occasional stops to assess their level of fatigue.

The other half were given the same walking map but handed an MP-3 player and told that the purpose of the study was to assess the clarity of the music at six different stopping points along the way.

Afterwards, researchers offered their 56 subjects a lunch of pasta and meat sauce, green beans and a choice of either a sugary soft drink or water and applesauce or chocolate pudding. Researchers distracted their subjects not only so they wouldn’t discuss their walking experiences with one another, but so they could measure how much they served themselves and record what choices they made.

A second experiment used the same walking course but set one group on what was described as a sightseeing walk while the other went on what it was told was an exercise course. Afterwards, researchers offered the 46 subjects the chance to help themselves to M&Ms and surreptitiously weighed the bags that subjects poured for themselves before sending them on their way.

Compared with the walkers distracted by pleasant music, the exercisers were more likely to choose sugary soda over water. Although the exercisers were no more or less likely to pick the chocolate pudding, they served themselves more of it, on average, than did the subjects who thought they had taken an enjoyable walk.

Interestingly, the two groups consumed roughly the same number of calories’ worth of pasta, sauce and green beans. That, said the researchers, suggests that the workhorse subjects were rewarding themselves by choosing and eating more of the foods and beverages that are tasty treats than they were simply boosting their calorie intake.

Compared with subjects who ambled along taking in the campus’ attractions, those who perceived their walk as exercise served themselves larger portions of M&Ms upon completion of the walk.

Finally, the researchers took advantage of a real footrace and asked 231 runners who had run between five and 10 kilometres to fill out a brief survey that assessed how much fun they had had. Then they offered the runner a choice of a chocolate bar or a cereal bar.

Sure enough, irrespective of runners’ hunger levels, their body mass index or the distance they had run, those who indicated they had had more fun running the race were more likely to take a cereal bar. The chocolate bars were more often the choice of those who viewed the race more as a test or a workout than a pleasant challenge.

The upshot is simple, said Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab: If you think of your physical activity as fun, you’re less likely to feel the need to reward yourself than if you see your workout as an exhausting chore. That may involve a few mind games, he noted, but the reward is that you won’t negate the benefits of your workout with poor food choices.

“Do whatever you can to make your workout fun. Play music, watch a video or simply be grateful that you’re working out instead of working in the office,” said Wansink. “Anything that brings a smile is likely to get you to eat less.”

WASHINGTON — Some current or former heavy smokers may benefit from a new lung cancer test even if they’re 65 or older — although they experience more false alarms, suggests an analysis that comes as Medicare is debating whether to pay for the scans.

Lung cancer kills thousands a year, in part because tumours aren’t usually detected early enough for treatment to stand a good chance.

A major study released in 2011 showed that low-dose CT scans of the lungs of people at especially high risk because of heavy smoking can cut their chances of dying from lung cancer by 20 per cent.

Based on that study, the US Preventive Services Task Forces recently recommended the yearly test for people ages 55 to 80 who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years, or the equivalent, such as two packs a day for 15 years.

Some analysts have questioned if the test really will benefit seniors. Only a quarter of participants in that original study were 65 or older, and no one over 76 got screened.

What if the scans were offered to older adults who, because of other health problems common with increasing age, couldn’t withstand cancer treatment if an early tumour were found? On the other hand, 70 per cent of all lung cancer cases in the US are diagnosed in people 65 or older.

So the National Cancer Institute’s Paul Pinsky and colleagues reanalysed what happened to the older participants in that original study.

To prevent one lung cancer death required screening 245 seniors compared to 364 middle-aged people, those ages 55 to 64, the researchers reported Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine.

But screening tests come with trade-offs, such as false alarms that require invasive follow-up tests to rule out cancer. The older participants had a somewhat higher rate of false-positive scans over three years of tests, 28 per cent compared to 22 per cent, the researchers reported.

As for those who really did have cancer, seniors were as likely to undergo surgery as the younger participants. The five-year survival from lung cancer: 67.5 per cent for the under-65 crowd compared with 66.7 per cent for 65- to 69-year-olds and 56.5 per cent for those older than 70.

Because lung cancer isn’t the only health threat, researchers also tracked overall survival: Some 64 per cent of the middle-aged group lived five years, compared with 60 per cent of the 65- to 69-year-olds and 50 per cent of those 70 and older.

The findings are reassuring that screening seems to involve similar trade-offs for older and middle-aged groups, said Dr Michael Gould of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, who wasn’t involved in the reanalysis.

“Until there is new and direct evidence to the contrary, it does not seem reasonable to exclude persons aged 65 to 74 years from access to screening,” he wrote in an editorial in the journal.

Seniors who participated in the study were healthier than average, cautioned Pinsky. He said it’s important to monitor what happens to older adults as the tests are offered beyond the specialist centres that studied it.

“The main thing is, you don’t want to get screened if you’re not going to be able to benefit from it,” Pinsky said. “Certainly for the healthy subgroup of 65-plus, it seems like the harms are maybe just marginally greater than for a younger population, and in one sense you have a greater opportunity for absolute benefit.”