Features

With the need always to be connected we use computers and computer-like equipment all the time, everywhere. Does this mean we are buying more machines or has the market become saturated? Should we really care?

After a noticeable slump in 2012 and 2013, global sales of small computers of all kinds, desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones (a set referred to as DLTS), are up again in 2014. According to Gartner Inc., the renowned American research company, this year has already seen a 4.2 per cent increase compared to last year. The decline was some 9 per cent in 2013.

In Jordan for example, it is estimated that more than 2.5 million smartphones are in use. This is an impressive figure by any measure, especially when taking into consideration the fact that the country’s near 8 million population is very young, with a demography pyramid that shows about one third of the population under 20, therefore unlikely (in theory…) to own a smartphone.

The average useful lifetime of a desktop or laptop computer is five years. That of tablets is three and that of smartphones is two. Smartphones actually could be kept and used for three of four years but because of their inherent nature and their size they are particularly prone to accidents and failures, and are sometimes replaced just because of that.

So, apart from having broken the device, and assuming you already own the entire DLTS set, why would you want to change any or all of your computers?

In random order, the reasons are fashion (yes, it counts…), introduction of a new operating system, machines that are getting too old and too slow, and last but not least new functionality and features introduced by the manufacturers. None of these four reasons can be neglected or ignored; they all are perfectly valid and play a role in the buying decision-making process. It is just that the importance, the weight of the reason for change varies with time, from one year to another.

When Microsoft, Google or Apple release a new operating system, this triggers an urge to replace the machine. When Samsung designs a new smartphone, we crave it. When the telecoms decide to move from 3G to 4G we need a device that is compatible and can use the new technology efficiently. When Nokia puts a stunning camera in their new device we can’t help but dream of it. When Sony says 4k screen resolution is an absolute must to have, we start shopping for a machine that can match it.

Changes were mild in 2012 and 2013 and probably caused the market to slowdown. Now 4G networking, high-resolution cameras in mobile devices and a more global acceptance of Microsoft’s Windows 8, combined with the company’s decision to discontinue support for Windows XP, not forgetting Sony’s strong push for 4k screen resolution, all these are elements that are probably helping the market to go up again.

Sony’s 4k, among other high-tech features, has been particularly boosted by all the advertising it got and is still getting with the amazing video coverage of the football World Cup this year.

The World Cup alone has contributed to improve sales of high-end laptops, since part of the population has decided to watch the games not directly on satellite TV but on laptops computers connected to the Internet, though eventually the laptop would still be connected to a large screen via HDMI cable.

Good sales of DLTSs are important for they allow the industry to continue innovating and improving the products. In the end the consumer has everything to win here.

WASHINGTON — Cyber security threats are rising for industrial control systems around the world, a growing target for attackers seeking to wreak havoc, a study showed Thursday.

The study by Ponemon Institute and Unisys Corp of 599 technology executives in 13 countries found that even as threats are rising, organisations are not as prepared as they should be to deal with cyber attacks.

The study said the risk to industrial control systems “is believed to have substantially increased”, with 57 per cent of the respondents citing greater threats.

“Security compromises are occurring in most companies,” the report said.

“It is difficult to understand why security is not a top a priority because 67 per cent of respondents say their companies have had at least one security compromise that led to the loss of confidential information or disruption to operations over the last 12 months.”

About one-fourth of these breaches were due to an insider attack or inadequate internal controls, the report added.

One-third of those surveyed said their companies do not get real-time alerts, or intelligence that can be used to stop or minimise the impact of a cyber attack.

And among those who do receive such intelligence, 22 per cent of respondents say this is ineffective.

The report is the latest to suggest slow progress in improving cyber security for so-called critical infrastructure — which includes electric power grids, utilities, oil and gas production operations and some manufacturing.

Last month, the US security firm Symantec said it identified malware targeting industrial control systems which could sabotage electric grids, power generators and pipelines.

It said the cyberattackers, probably state-sponsored, have been targeting energy operations in the United States and Europe since 2011 and were capable of causing significant damage.

According to the Ponemon-Unisys study, the majority of companies say important security countermeasures are implemented only partially or not at all.

Some said security checks fail to verify contractors, vendors and other third parties.

“People across the board recognise the problem, but as a corporate priority it is not in the top five,” said Larry Ponemon, one of the authors of the study.

Unisys chief information security officer Dave Frymier said that for top executives to take notice there needs to be a “precipitating” event.

“Unfortunately it has to be something bad,” such as a catastrophic attack, Frymier told a group of journalists.

Frymier said it is likely “that the bad guys are in all these networks” but have yet to take any action because they have not determined how to cash in or utilise their access.

The report is based on a survey of IT security professionals in the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Australia, France, Mexico, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Spain, New Zealand and Colombia.

A high percentage of the security incidents — 47 per cent — came from a breach from actions of a “negligent employee”, the study found.

While computer networks appeared to be the biggest target for attacks, 26 per cent said attackers gained access through mobile devices.

“Hackers already have well-developed toolsets for intercepting and capturing data from mobile communications. These interception tools are growing in sophistication,” the report said.

THE HAGUE — Dutch student Boyan Slat is only 19 years old, but he already has 100 people working on his revolutionary plan to scoop thousands of tonnes of damaging plastics from the oceans.

The world’s “plastic soup”, much of it swirling around in five main gyres or rotating oceanic currents, costs billions of euros to the fishing and tourism sectors every year.

Estimates differ as to how much of the waste is in our oceans, ranging from half a million to millions of tonnes.

The scourge kills marine life, entering the food chain when sea creatures ingest it, as well as ensnaring dolphins and whales.

While most ideas for attacking the plastic plague involve boats criss-crossing the oceans to scoop up the waste, Slat came up with a remarkably practical way to help solve the problem: harnessing the power of sea currents to trap the “soup”.

“Why go after the plastic if the plastic can come to you?” the aeronautical engineering student told AFP.

‘Soup trap’

His design calls for two vast floating arms, 50 kilometres long each, in the form of a “V”, anchored to the ocean floor.

Curtains, ironically made from super-strong plastic, hang from the arms, dangling around three metres below the surface.

Ocean currents will force the waste into the “V” and to a cylindrical platform 11 metres in diameter floating at the end which can store up to 3,000 cubic metres of plastic (more than an Olympic swimming pool) for eventual collection by a ship. 

A solar-powered conveyor belt will take the largest chunks of plastic to and from a shredder so that it will fit in the cylinder.

The blue-eyed, shaggy-haired Slat, who still lives at home with his parents, says he got his idea while scuba-diving in Greece. “I saw more plastics than fish under the water,” he recalled.

He publicly presented it for the first time at the end of 2012, hardly daring to dream it would become reality. 

Today, he has put his studies on hold and 100 people around the world are working for him, several of them full time.

‘Faster, cheaper’

Following a year of feasibility studies and a certain amount of criticism from a sceptical scientific community, Slat wants to set up a pilot project to run for the next three or four years before installing the first operational “Ocean Clean-up Array” in the north Pacific Ocean.

He has set up a crowdfunding website to collect $2 million (1.5 million euros) in 100 days, reaching the first million after 32 days.

Over a 10-year period, he hopes his invention will collect nearly half of the plastic swirling around in the north Pacific Ocean.

Slat claims his method would be thousands of times faster than sending ships to fish the plastic out of the water.

“It’s not only faster, it’s also cheaper,” he said.

Around 70 people, including oceanographers, engineers and legal advisers, took part in the feasibility study, looking at legal and material questions, as well as the project’s weather-resistance and cost.

‘Unanswered questions’

“The ocean clean-up team has addressed concerns that the ocean community has voiced, but there are still issues that need to be addressed,” Kim Martini, an oceanographer at Washington State University in Seattle, told AFP by e-mail.

Some say the feasibility study underestimates the proportion of micro-plastics, which are just millimetres in size and extremely difficult to trap and remove.

Others say the project itself will become a dangerous obstacle for marine life and sea traffic.

“Boyan is a terrific engineer, and we appreciate a lot what he does for the plastic soup issue,” said Anna Cummins of the 5 Gyres environmental charity and lobby group in a telephone interview.

“But what we do not understand, is why he wants to use his device so far from the coastlines,” she told AFP.

“Collecting waste from the middle of the ocean is like collecting water from a tap that is always on,” said Daniel Poolen of the Plastic Soup Foundation.

“You have to go to river mouths, to the source” of the pollution, he said.

Slat insists that the feasibility study, which concluded that the project was “likely feasible”, dealt with all the technical problems.

Nevertheless, he is aware of the limitations.

“Thankfully, I’m surrounded by people who have more knowledge than me; they bring their experience on board,” Slat said, adding: “I’m only 19!” 

“Even if I think that my project is more efficient and cheaper, I know it won’t remove all plastic waste,” he admits.

“And most importantly, I know full well that the source of plastic in the oceans won’t disappear tomorrow, people will unfortunately continue to put plastic waste into the environment.”

It was not easy to hide from them because they actually did have that invisible third eye, at the back of their heads. Nothing escaped their attention either, and no amount of training could make them mind their own business. 

They were bold creatures, fearless and brave. Every family had them in large numbers, and without asking or even praying for it, I was blessed with a truckload too.

I had a bittersweet relationship with them over the years. Who are these mysterious individuals? They are a brigade of unsung ladies related to us by heredity, genes and a strange quirk of fate. They are our Aunties and dear Lord! You can love them or hate them but try as you might, you cannot disown them. 

Dad’s sisters, mom’s sisters, parents’ brothers’ wives, their cousins, cousins of cousins, once removed, twice removed, even three times removed, all come collective clubbed under one giant-sized umbrella that spells, Aunt, in neon letters. 

You could divide these women into two broad categories: strict and stricter. They frowned over almost anything that you did. Or didn’t do. Difficult to please, they started their sentences with “don’t mind my saying this” and then proceeded to tell you things that shattered your self-esteem to its very core.

When I was younger, most of their advice to me was contradictory. So, if I was thin, I was told to eat more but make sure I don’t become obese. If I didn’t exercise, I was made to start swimming immediately but not get sunburnt because then no one would want to marry me. 

What the connection was between sunburn and lack of matrimonial alliance was never explained. But as I grew older I mastered a trick and the moment I saw even one of them approaching, I would feign illness after the perfunctory hello, and disappear. 

According to them, their own children were miles ahead of my siblings and me, in almost everything, whether it was academics or sports. Even if it was not true, we were not allowed to argue with them. It was considered impolite so we had to just grin and bear it. 

And then before I knew it, I became an Aunt myself. Suddenly I had four nephews in my basket. Being the only sister to my brothers and brothers-in-law, I was also their solitary Aunty. It was a responsible role and these little chaps looked up-to me. I decided to spoil them rotten from day one. I mean, what did I have to lose?

So we had wolf whistling competitions, spitting on the furthest step contest, marble and slingshot challenges and guns and imaginary robbers games concocted by me. I was their chief confidant, storyteller, barber and also the person with a non-stop supply of petty cash. My only caveat was that if anybody asked them how many Aunts they had, the reply had to be “one” with a smart salute executed towards me. I painstakingly trained them to do this and they performed it perfectly. 

Once a little one came running towards me and asked for a chocolate treat. His mum shook her head because it would have ruined his appetite for dinner. I was caught in a quandary. 

“I have to tell you something” he lisped.

“Yes darling”, I said, picking him up.

“You know how many Aunties I have?” he queried.

“One?” I asked smiling broadly.

“None!” he whispered furiously, before running off. 

Boys will be boys.

SAN FRANCISCO — Advocates for the blind are debating whether to use a carrot or a stick to persuade one of their oldest allies, Apple Inc, to close an emerging digital divide in mobile technology.

As digital life increasingly moves to the world of smartphones and tablets, some disabled people with visual, hearing and other impairments are feeling more left out than ever.

As baby boomers retire and age, the number of people needing help is multiplying. Many disabled advocates believe federal law requires that apps be accessible, but courts have not ruled on the issue. Few disabled want to risk alienating Apple, considered a friend, by fighting it.

Mobile apps that work well can transform a blind person’s life, reading e-mail on the go or speaking directions to a new restaurant. Some young blind people no longer feel the need to learn Braille to read with their fingers, when Siri and other computer voices can do the reading instead. Captions on videos and special hearing aids bring hearing impaired into the digital fold.

But when apps don’t work, life can grind to a stop. Jonathan Lyens, a San Francisco city employee, who is legally blind, has a hard time browsing jobs on professional networking site LinkedIn.

“The app is insane. Buttons aren’t labeled. It’s difficult to navigate,” said Lyens. When it comes to social media apps, new problems arise with every release, he said. “I get nervous every time I hit the update button.”

LinkedIn has hired an accessibility chief, Jennison Asuncion, who himself is blind, and says it is working to improve the app.

Still, advocates of the disabled want the problem solved by the company at the centre of the app world — Apple. Rival Google Inc, whose Android operating system drives more phones than Apple, is also under pressure, but as the creator of the modern smartphone and a long-time champion for the blind, Apple is feeling the most heat.

Apple hasn’t been a steady champion: The National Federation of the Blind sued it in 2008 over accessibility of iTunes. Apple settled, agreeing to pay $250,000, and adding captions and other accessibility improvements to iTunes. Since then it has added more such features to its iPhone, iPod, iPad and Apple TV products.

Now, Apple and Google both have developer guidelines on how to make features accessible, such as labeling buttons that can be read by Apple’s VoiceOver software.

But they don’t require accessibility, in contrast to other strictly enforced rules, such as a ban on apps that present crude or objectionable content. Nor do they offer an accessibility rating system, which some disabled advocates say would be a big help.

That is where the new debate starts: Should the blind return to court for protection they believe is guaranteed by law, or nudge their old ally to work harder? Should they pursue app makers, as some lawyers have, or Apple and Google?

Attorney Daniel Goldstein, who brought the suit against Apple in 2008 as counsel for the National Federation of the Blind, said the 2008 action could provide a model for a suit focused on apps, but the Federation says no lawsuit is being considered.

At last week’s National Federation of the Blind convention, members approved a resolution to press Apple to create and enforce accessibility standards. In the halls there was some debate about whether or when to play hard ball over requirements that apps be accessible.

“It’s time for Apple to step up or we will take the next step,” said Michael Hingson, board member for the National Association of the Blind’s California chapter, describing litigation as “the only resort” if Apple did not bring accessibility requirements to the app store.

To be sure, Apple, Google, Twitter and other technology companies have increasingly accommodated users with impairments in recent years.

Many developers are ready to help when they learn there is a problem, said Chris Maury, whose Conversant Labs builds apps for the visually impaired.

“I try to lead with the carrot and not the stick. It’s better to inform developers that accessibility is the right thing to do and an opportunity to reach a whole new base of users. It shouldn’t just be about compliance or avoiding legal risks,” he said.

There is a worldwide market of 1.1 billion people with disabilities, according to research firm Fifth Quadrant Analytics. Nearly 21 million US adults experience vision loss, according to the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, and approximately 28 million have a hearing impairment, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in a 2013 speech at Auburn University described people with disabilities “in a struggle to have their human dignity acknowledged”. He said, “They’re frequently left in the shadows of technological advancements that are a source of empowerment and attainment for others”.

The company declined to comment on its accessibility strategy or whether developers should be required to make apps accessible.

Problems

Problems on apps begin with unlabeled buttons, which can’t be read by the machine. New features and graphics can be particularly challenging, and many companies upgrade an app, before bringing their accessibility features up to date in a follow-up release. The result is unexpected, dramatic changes in usability.

Several members of the National Association of the Blind told Reuters they struggle with apps from Bank of America, TuneIn, Southwest, Mint and Netflix, among others. Bank of America declined to comment. Netflix said it had made big strides on captioning and the others said they were working to improve accessibility.

By contrast, ride service Uber and Twitter, frequently win kudos for their apps.

Google Accessibility Engineering Manager Eve Andersson told Reuters that product teams are increasingly encouraged to consider users with special needs at the outset.

“We can’t stick on accessibility band aids,” she said. The company now offers training on accessibility implementation and design in Zurich, Mountain View and New York, she added. She declined to comment on whether Google would require apps be accessible.

Apple also is encouraging developers to include accessibility, bringing executives from Fleksy, which designed an oversize virtual keyboard, to describe their experience at the June developers conference, for instance.

Apple’s next version of its phone operating system, iOS 8, will have a “speak screen” features that reads whatever is on the screen, improved zoom and support for hearing aids for the hearing impaired made by companies including ReSound. Apple helped develop the hearing aid.

Howard Rosenblum, chief executive officer of the National Association of the Deaf, wants more. “Any app should be accessible to everyone,” he said.

WASHINGTON — US scientists said Thursday two distant Earth-like planets, which some believed might be able to harbour life, do not actually exist and that astronomers were confused by a star’s sunspots.

The controversial pair of planets, Gliese d and g, some 22 light years away, were once believed to be in the Goldilocks zone — not too close and not too far from the star, where the potential exists for water and perhaps life.

They are part of a larger trove of potentially Earth-like planets that have been identified by astronomers so far, and NASA has said billions may be out there.

Too far to be seen with the naked eye or a telescope, they were spotted with a technique called Doppler radial velocity, orbiting a cool, red star called Gliese 581.

The method takes starlight from telescope and analyses its wavelengths. By detecting signs of a wobble from the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet, it can reveal the mass of a planet.

But astronomers at Pennsylvania State University now say Gliese 581 g and d were not planets at all, but a jumbled signal from the star itself.

“These two Goldilocks planets that people have been talking about, unfortunately, based on our research are not real,” said co-author Suvrath Mahadevan, assistant professor in the department of astronomy and astrophysics.

“What was previously thought to be a planetary signal was actually caused by stellar activity,” he told AFP.

In other words, magnetic fields or sunspots could have interfered with the signal that astronomers were reading.

The study in the journal Science said that “intense stellar magnetic activity, like sunspots on our own star... created false planet signals for d and g.”

Scientists have already ruled out the existence of a third planet, Gliese f. That leaves three planets known to be orbiting this particular star, none of which are in the habitable zone.

‘Pushing limits’

Astronomers have two ways of detecting faraway planets.

The NASA Kepler mission observes the dimming light of a star as a planet passes in front of it, known as a transit. This technique can tell astronomers about the approximate size of a planet, but not the mass.

The other approach, the one used in the study in Science, is known as Doppler radial velocity. It is more sensitive to stellar activities and can reveal the mass of a planet.

“Astronomers have made great progress being able to detect planets increasingly similar to the Earth — smaller in size, lower in mass, at similar distances from their stars — and we keep pushing that boundary,” said Eric Ford, an astronomy professor at Penn State who was not involved in the study.

“It is a lesson that, as you push the limits of what a technology can do, things that used to not really matter and things that you could neglect, begin to matter.”

Mahadevan said more study is needed to determine how many of the Earth-like planets discovered so far could be just a mixed signal.

“Most of the more massive exoplanets are not going to be affected by this. The issue is with the subtler signal,” he said.

LONDON — Scientists studying the effects of the psychedelic chemical in magic mushrooms have found the human brain displays a similar pattern of activity during dreams as it does during a mind-expanding drug trip.

Psychedelic drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms can profoundly alter the way we experience the world, but little is known about what physically happens in the brain.

In a study published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, researchers examined the brain effects of psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms, using data from brain scans of volunteers who had been injected with the drug.

“A good way to understand how the brain works is to perturb the system in a marked and novel way. Psychedelic drugs do precisely this and so are powerful tools for exploring what happens in the brain when consciousness is profoundly altered,” said Dr Enzo Tagliazucchi, who led the study at Germany’s Goethe University.

Magic mushrooms grow naturally around the world and have been widely used since ancient times for religious rites and also for recreation.

British researchers have been exploring the potential of psilocybin to alleviate severe forms of depression in people who don’t respond to other treatments, and obtained some positive results from early-stage experiments.

In the United States, scientists have seen positive results in trials using MDMA, a pure form of the party drug ecstasy, in treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dream-like state

People who use psychedelic drugs often describe “expanded consciousness”, including vivid imagination and dream-like states.

To explore the biological basis of these experiences, Tagliazucchi’s team analysed brain imaging data from 15 volunteers who were given psilocybin intravenously while they lay in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner.

The volunteers were scanned under the influence of psilocybin and when they had been injected with a placebo, or dummy drug. The researchers looked at fluctuations in what is called the blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal, which tracks activity levels in the brain.

They found that with psilocybin, activity in the more primitive brain network linked to emotional thinking became more pronounced, with several parts of the network — such as the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex — active at the same time. This pattern is similar to when people are dreaming.

They also found that volunteers on psilocybin had more disjointed and uncoordinated activity in the brain network that is linked to high-level thinking, including self-consciousness.

“People often describe taking psilocybin as producing a dreamlike state and our findings have, for the first time, provided a physical representation for the experience in the brain,” said Robin Carhart-Harris of Imperial College London’s department of medicine, who also worked on the study.

“I was fascinated to see similarities between the pattern of brain activity in a psychedelic state and the pattern of brain activity during dream sleep, especially as both involve the primitive areas of the brain linked to emotions and memory.”

WASHINGTON — The wandering albatross, a magnificent seabird that navigates the ocean winds and can glide almost endlessly over the water, boasts the biggest wingspan of any bird alive today, extending almost 3.5 metres.

But it is a mere pigeon compared to an astonishing extinct bird called Pelagornis sandersi, identified by scientists on Monday from fossils unearthed in South Carolina, that lived 25 to 28 million years ago and boasted the largest-known avian wingspan in history, about 6.1 to 7.4 metres.

Size alone did not make it unique. It had a series of bony, tooth-like projections from its long jaws that helped it scoop up fish and squid along the eastern coast of North America.

“Anyone with a beating heart would have been struck with awe,” said palaeontologist Daniel Ksepka of the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, who led the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “This bird would have just blotted out the sun as it swooped overhead. Up close, it may have called to mind a dragon.”

With its short, stumpy legs, it may not have been graceful on land, but its long, slender wings made it a highly efficient glider able to remain airborne for long stretches despite its size.

It belonged to an extinct group called pelagornithids that thrived from about 55 million years ago to 3 million years ago. The last birds with teeth went extinct 65 million years ago in the same calamity that killed the dinosaurs.

But this group developed “pseudoteeth” to serve the same purpose. They lived on every continent including Antarctica. “The cause of their extinction, however, is still shrouded in mystery,” Ksepka said.

“All modern birds lack teeth, but early birds such as Archaeopteryx had teeth inherited from their non-bird, dinosaurian ancestors. So in this case the pelagornithids did not evolve new true teeth, which are in sockets, but rather were constrained by prior evolution to develop tooth-like projections of their jaw bones,” said Paul Olsen, a Columbia University palaeontologist who did not take part in the study.

These birds lived very much like some of the pterosaurs, the extinct flying reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs that achieved the largest wingspans of any flying creatures, reaching about 11 metres.

Its fossils were found in 1983 when construction workers were building a new terminal at the Charleston International Airport. Its skull is nearly complete and in great condition, and scientists also have important wing and leg bones, the shoulder blade and wishbone.

Until now, the birds with the largest-known wingspans were the slightly smaller condor-like Argentavis magnificens, which lived about 6 million years ago in Argentina, and another pelagornithid, Pelagornis chilensis, that lived in Chile at about the same time.

At about 22-40 kilogrammes, Pelagornis sandersi was far from the heaviest bird in history, with numerous extinct flightless birds far more massive.

The Mercedes-Benz AMG CLS63 S Shooting Brake 4Matic is quite a mouthful of a model designation that effectively conveys Mercedes-Benz’ extensive model lines and multitude of variable versions that covers a broad spectrum of conceivable car niches.

Translated, the featured super-estate’s name indicate it as the high performance AMG sub-brand version of the CLS-Class, which is a sportier, more stylised but less practical car based on traditional E-Class executive saloon’s platform.

The first car to be billed as ‘four-door-coupe’, it logically follows the CLS-Class estate version is a Shooting Brake — a term that traditionally describes a 3-door estate version of a 2-door coupe.

Segment-bending

A devastatingly powerful and segment-crossing super-estate unveiled as a well-received concept in 2010, the CLS-Class Shooting Brake entered service in late 2012, including the high performance 5.5-litre bi-turbo V8. No longer indicating actual engine capacity, the ‘63’ in the alphanumeric AMG CLS63’ designation is inherited and is now associated with this particular engine. Initially producing 518BHP, the CLS63’s engine was tweaked to 549BHP in 2013, along with a further ‘S’ version tuned to 577BHP was also introduced.

Offered in standard rear-wheel-drive, the four-wheel-drive version tested carries the 4Matic designation. The CLS63 S 4Matic Shooting Brake version, appeared only in mid-2013, but Mercedes have most recently unveiled a minor CLS-wide aesthetic face-lift.

A more practical and better-looking version of the CLS-Class — itself a less spacious and more stylised E-Class derived offering — the Shooting Brake offers the best of both worlds. Long, wide and hunkered down, the moody, dramatic and sophisticated Shooting Brake is among Mercedes’ best current designs.

The five-door Shooting Brake’s extended roofline better harmonise its lines, better emphasises its broad road-hugging stance and projects a more assertive presence than the four-door CLS-Class.

Best in more aggressive AMG guise to accentuate its chiselled wheel-arches, defined creases, arcing roofline, wide single-slat grille, the just unveiled face-lift doesn’t much alter the handsome CLS63 Shooting Brake, with most obvious differences being rear wheel-arch vents and a subtle fascia re-jig in-line with the new C- and S-Class saloons.

Bi-turbo brute

A thoroughly substantial vehicle in terms of technology, luxury, size and weight, the CLS63 S 4Matic Shooting Brake’s twin-turbo 5.5-litre direct injection V8 powerhouse is well up to the job.

With four-wheel-drive traction, limited-slip rear differential and electronic traction control and torque vectoring, the range-topping Shooting Brake digs its heels in with vice-like tenacity and — after a moment’s pause as its turbos spool up — rockets off-the-line with a ferocity and velocity that defy its paunchy 2,025kg heft.

Bulleting from standstill with sledge hammer like bluntness and super car-rivalling acceleration, the Shooting Brake demolishes the 0-100km/h dash in a mere 3.7-seconds, and can theoretically keep going well north of its electronically-governed 250km/h maximum.

Developing 577BHP at 5,500rpm and a gut-wrenching 590lb/ft torque throughout 1,750-5,000rpm, the Shooting Brake is devastatingly muscular and brazenly blitzed through the 200km/h mark on the Yas Marina Formula One Circuit’s long straight. 

While acceleration trailed off slightly, it nonetheless maintained a muscular charge to within a whisker of its governed top speed before one had to slam onto the brakes to accommodate a swiftly approaching slalom obstacle. 

Slightly faded after many mercilessly punishing laps at the hands of assembled auto journos and AMG drivers and under its own heft, brake pedal feel eventually became spongy, but with firmer depression and longer pedal travel, it nevertheless remained resolutely effective in quickly shedding velocity.

Pace and performance

A brutally powerful and stylised luxury super-estate, the AMG Shooting Brake isn’t a subtle car that disguises its’ weight, but rather one that manages it with electronic and mechanical solutions. While a McLaren sports car seemingly slices through a race circuit, the AMG Shooting Brake very effectively barges, batters and bludgeons its way around.

Not one to finesse its way on track, the bi-turbo CLS63’ engine fluency through revs has been improved, but it is characterised by its tremendously muscular and surging mid-range, bookended by slight low-end turbo lag and relatively low rev-limiter.

On track, the Shooting Brake drives best using its 7-speed gearbox’s most aggressive Sport+ automatic mode. 

In Sport+ gear shifts snapped off aggressively and intuitively. Using manual sequential paddle-shift mode, one struggled to up-shift before the rev limiter.

Firmly but smoothly planted at speed straights and through fast sweeping corners, the Shooting Brake’s suspension heroically suppressing weight transfer and keeps it flat. With 67 per cent rear-wheel power bias, the CLS63 4Matic’s all-paw traction and power allocation allows it to better claw through corners with later at-the-limit electronic stability safety interference, and provides similar feel but greater fluency through corners than the rear-drive version.

Designed and tuned for high speed confidence rather than steering and chassis feel and intimacy, the Shooting Brake nonetheless tackles corners well, with four-wheel-drive, limited-slip differential, greater negative wheel camber and electronics effectively guiding putting power down through corners.

Cabin and kit

Classy, quiet and refined, the Shooting Brake is well-insulated from noise, harshness and vibrations. With low roofline and small glasshouse, the Shooting Brake’s luxurious cabin has a hunkered-down business-like ambiance, and finished with carbon fibre and piano black trim, matt metallic fixtures and soft textured stitched leathers.

Busy but symmetric, the CLS63’s cabin features flat-bottom contoured multi-function sports steering wheel and comfortably supportive seats. Front visibility and space are decent, while the extended roofline improves rear headroom, but rear accessibility is unaltered.

An E-Class estate may be more spacious, but the Shooting Brake is generous next to the CLS-Class four-door, with 590-litre luggage space expanding to 1,550-litres. Optional nautical-style cherry wood cargo floor is particularly elegant.

Thoroughly appointed and well-kitted with high tech luxury, convenience, safety and semi-autonomous driver aids, the CLS63’s extensive standard and optional equipment list features Bang & Olufsen sound system and front seat bolsters that automatically firm-up for cornering support. For those intending to push the CLS63 to its limits, the best option to invest in are the highly effective and fade-resistant carbon ceramic brakes to deal with the immense power, weight and stresses of circuit driving.

Extensive safety equipment includes multi-stage stability controls, NECK-PRO headrests, three three-point rear seatbelts and two Isofix child-seat latches. Advanced driver aid features optionally include Lane Keeping, Blind Spot and Night View assists, and adaptive cruise control among many other features.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 5.5-litre, twin turbo V8-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 98 x 90.5mm

Compression ratio: 10:1

Valve-train: 32-valve, direct injection, variable timing

Gearbox: 7-speed wet-clutch automatic

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

0-100 km/h: 3.7-seconds

Maximum speed: 250km/h (electronically governed)

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 577 (585) [430] @5,500rpm

Specific power: 105.7BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 285BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 590 (800) @1,750-5,000rpm

Specific torque: 146.5Nm/litre

Fuel consumption, combined: 10.6-litres/100km

CO₂ emissions, combined: 248g/km

Fuel tank capacity: 66-litres

Length: 4,999mm

Width: 1,881mm

Height: 1,436mm

Wheelbase: 2,874mm

Track width, F/R: 1,625 / 1,607mm

Cargo, min / max: 590- / 1,550-litres

Kerb weight: 2,025kg

Steering: Variable assistance, rack and pinion

Suspension, F/R: Three-link, coil springs / multi-link, air springs

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres, F/R: 255/35ZR19 / 285/30ZR19

LONDON — On a recent morning in London, Lara Thomson practised spinning on benches, swinging from metal bars and balancing off raised ledges — all elements of a daredevil discipline known as “parkour”.

What was unusual about the scene is that Thomson is 79 and all of her classmates are over 60.

They are members of a unique weekly class for seniors in a sport more commonly known for gravity-defying jumps than helping people with arthritis.

Invented in the 1980s in France, parkour is a sport usually favoured by extremely nimble people who move freely through any terrain using their own strength and flexibility, often using urban environments such as benches, buildings and walls as a type of obstacle course. It’s also known as free running.

The London parkour class of about a dozen students is taught by two instructors who have adapted the sport’s main elements to a level that can be handled even by those over 60 who have replacement joints or other medical conditions.

“I wondered whether it was a government plot to get rid of old people when I heard about the class,” Thomson joked. She said she has balance problems and that the class helps her feel more confident about getting around. “Being able to get outside and do silly things like hugging trees is great,” she said, referring to a stretching exercise.

While most fitness classes aimed at seniors focus on calmer activities such as dance or yoga, experts say parkour is a reasonable, if unorthodox, option.

“When I first heard about this, I had a picture in my mind of elderly people jumping off of walls and I thought there was no way this could be appropriate,” said Bruce Paton, a physical therapist who works with the elderly at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health at University College London. He is not connected to the programme. “But when you look at the things they’re doing, it’s actually quite gentle and could increase their strength and flexibility to help them with their daily activities.”

Still, Paton said parkour could potentially be dangerous for people with serious heart problems and warned anyone with a joint replacement or muscle weakness should be careful.

The parkour instructors said everyone who takes the class fills out a health form and they are particularly careful to dissuade participants from doing too much; several students have artificial joints, arthritis or a pacemaker.

“Every single technique in parkour can be changed so that anyone can do it,” said Jade Shaw, artistic director of Parkour Dance, who teaches the class. The parkour sessions initially began as a pilot project last year and Shaw is hoping to get more funding to expand it further. For now, the classes are free and held at a Tibetan Buddhist centre in South London.

“I think it’s very beneficial and I’m hoping we’ll soon have a lot more older people bouncing around the parks,” she said.

David Terrace, a health and fitness expert for the charity Age UK, said any efforts to get older people more active should be welcomed. He said adaptations have been made to other sports to help the elderly exercise more, such as turning football into walking football and building customised boats to accommodate wheelchairs for sailing.

At 85, George Jackson is the oldest participant in the London parkour class.

“I really enjoy it and wish I could do more,” said Jackson, an army veteran and former boxer. “I just sometimes forget how old I am and that I can’t do certain things.”