Features

It was bound to happen and we’re almost there. Wearable computers are the next critical phase in private computing. What could be more pleasant and convenient than to wear fancy eye glasses that let you watch video and browse the web displaying a large screen, with Dolby sound, merely by looking straight ahead of you, free to move around?

When desktops are too bulky and immovable, when laptops aren’t as portable as you would like them to be, when tablets are not powerful enough and smartphones too small to enjoy large images, wearable computers in the shape of eye glasses may just be the answer.

Call it augmented reality, computer-powered glasses or simply computer glasses, the technology may currently be the most thrilling aspect of living with the Internet and with computers. Epson and Google are the main contenders in this huge, promising market of which we have barely seen the tip. Epson calls its product Moverio and Google calls it, well… Google Glass.

Using the term “computer” for a device that is before anything else a sophisticated display would be exaggerated. The glasses do hardly more than display an image before your very eyes, on the transparent glass fitted in the great-looking frame, giving you the impression that you are watching a big, movie-like screen image.

They do come with impressive features like 3D, Dolby sound, a built-in camera, motion sensors and an advanced Android controller, all in the elegant casing of the glasses, but they also have serious limitations like cables to start with. Yes, the glasses are tethered to the pocket-size Android controller via cables. This alone takes out a good part of the wearable adjective. Using cables is going backwards.

And then there’s the price. Epson’s Moverio older not-so-great model BT-100 can be purchased for $400, whereas there isn’t yet a price tag on the newer, much improved BT-200. There’s a huge difference in the design quality and the functionality between BT-100 and the BT-200. The bottom line found in most technical reviews is “no comparison”. As for Google’s glasses, at about $2,000 they aren’t exactly a steal either!

Virtually all those who have tried these tech toys agree to say that this is only the beginning. In IT jargon all models of wearable display glasses are still in their beta, i.e. not final version. It’s the idea that counts and it’s a great one, beyond any doubt. One of the most striking descriptions was given by CNet: “Limited, fascinating, full of potential”. It says it all.

Perhaps the wisest approach to wearable displays now is to consider them as experimental technology. If you try to buy one thinking it’s going to be very friendly and flawless you will be in for a big disappointment. It is far from being a mature product like a tablet or a smartphone for example.

On the other hand if you are curious, have a lot of time and also some cash put aside, “trying on” a wearable display would make sense. At the speed things usually evolve in IT I wouldn’t be surprised to see wearable computer glasses become common staple in say three to four years. And of course by then they would be affordable, totally wireless and full-fledged computers.

NEW YORK –– Babies born prematurely may benefit from people talking to them while they are still in the hospital's intensive care unit, suggests a new study.

Researchers found that premature babies who were exposed to more talking from adults, such as their parents, in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), tended to score higher on development tests later on.

"This is certainly a remarkable, easy-to-implement and cost-effective intervention of informing moms of visiting their children in the intensive care unit," Dr Betty Vohr said.

Vohr is the study's senior author from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.

She and her colleagues write in the journal Paediatrics that a baby still in the womb is exposed to its mother's voice, but a baby born very prematurely is kept in a NICU, where it is exposed to noises from monitors and machines but little talk.

Previous research has found that children born early are at an increased risk for language problems later on, but it's unknown whether talking to them early on will help their later scores.

For the new study, the researchers recruited families of 36 babies that were medically stable but born before 32 weeks of pregnancy and kept in the NICU.

A baby is considered "full term" if it is born between 39 and 41 weeks of pregnancy, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Society for Maternal-Foetal Medicine (see Reuters Health story of October 22, 2013 here: reut.rs/189Cm4Q.)

The babies in the study wore vests equipped with devices that record and analyse the conversations and background noises near the baby over 16 hours. The recordings were taken at 32 and 36 weeks of gestational age.

Overall, the babies were exposed to more talking at 36 weeks than at 32 weeks, but the actual amount of talk each baby was exposed to during the study periods varied from 144 words to over 26,000 words.

The word tallies were then compared to babies' Bayley-III scores, which measure how a baby is developing in regards to motor, language and thinking skills, at seven and 18 months of age.

The researchers found that after taking into account a child's birth weight, the amount of talking a baby was exposed to at 32 weeks accounted for 12 per cent of differences in children's language scores and 20 per cent of variation in their communication scores at 18 months of age.

The amount of talking a baby was exposed to at 36 weeks also accounted for about 26 per cent of variation in thinking scores at seven months of age.

Overall, the researchers found that an increased amount of adult talk in the NICU was tied to higher language and thinking scores on the tests.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that early exposure in the NICU of preterm infants to higher numbers of adult words is positively correlated with cognitive and language outcomes after discharge," the researchers write.

WASHINGTON –– Technology helps bring married couples closer together even though the use of electronic devices can be a source of tension, a US survey showed Tuesday.

The Pew Internet survey found 21 per cent of married or partnered adults felt closer to their spouse or partner because of exchanges they had online or via text message.

One in four of the couples surveyed said they texted their partner when they were both home together and 9 per cent have resolved an argument online or by text message that they were having difficulty resolving in person.

But the survey also found technology was a source of tension for some couples.

Twenty-five per cent of cell phone owners in a marriage or partnership said their spouse or partner was distracted by their cell phone when they were together.

And 8 per cent said they argued with their spouse or partner about the amount of time one of them was spending online.

The trends appeared magnified among younger adults surveyed, Pew found.

The survey found 42 per cent of 18-29 year olds with cell phones in serious relationships say their partner has been distracted by their mobile phone; but 41 per cent in the age group said they felt closer to their partner because of online or text conversations.

“Technology is everywhere and our relationships are no exception,” said Amanda Lenhart, a Pew researcher and lead author of the report.

“And for younger adults and those in newer relationships, tools such as cell phones and social media were there at the beginning and play a greater role today for good and for ill.”

The survey also found two out of three people in a marriage or committed relationship shared a password to one or more of their online accounts with their spouse or partner.

One in four of those in a couple said they share an e-mail account with a partner and 11 per cent of these couples have an online calendar that they share.

The Pew researchers found those who have been married or partnered 10 years or less have different digital habits.

Those who were already together as a couple at the advent of a new platform or technology were more likely to jump on together, while those who begin relationships with their own existing accounts and profiles tend to continue to use them separately as individuals, the report said.

Some 9 per cent of adult mobile phone owners surveyed said they have sent a sext –– or sexually suggestive image –– of themselves to someone else, up from 6 per cent in 2012.

And one in five cell owners have received a sext of someone else they know on their phone, up from 15 per cent who said this in 2012.

The report is based on a survey of 2,252 US adults from April 17 to May 19. The margin of error for married or partnered adults is estimated at 2.9 points and for cell phone owners 2.4 percentage points.

NEW YORK –– For people with osteoarthritis of the hip, pain levels tracked with the weather over the course of a small two-year study, Dutch researchers say.

They looked at reported pain levels in a previous study of arthritis, then went back to weather records to document the conditions each day.

It turns out the participants’ aches were just a little worse and joints just a little stiffer when humidity and barometric pressure levels rose.

“This is something that patients talk about all the time,” Dr Patience White told Reuters Health. A rheumatologist and vice president for Public Health Policy and Advocacy for the Arthritis Foundation, she was not involved in the study.

Osteoarthritis affects about 27 million Americans. Common risk factors include getting older, being obese, having previous joint injuries, overuse, weak muscles and genetics.

White said she often sees patients who say they are sensitive to the weather.

“Nobody’s bedridden by the weather change,” she said, “It’s not severe pain, they just ache more.”

More than 60 per cent of patients with osteoarthritis say that weather conditions, such as rain, barometric pressure and temperature have an impact on their pain and stiffness, according to the study team, which was led by Desirée Dorleijn, of Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam.

Past research attempting to investigate the weather connection had yielded inconsistent results, so Dorleijn and her colleagues looked at self-reported hip pain and function in 222 osteoarthritis patients who participated in a glucosamine sulphate study.

The patients enrolled in the study filled out questionnaires every three months for two years, including the Western Ontario and McMasters University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), which is scale for self-assessment of pain and function. The WOMAC scores range from 0 to 100, with 0 indicating no pain.

The researchers gathered weather reports for the days the patients filled out the questionnaires. The information gathered from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute included average temperature, wind speed, hours of sunlight, rainfall, humidity and barometric pressure.

Patients who underwent surgeries for their arthritis were dropped during the study; so 188 participants completed the full two years of monitoring.

About 70 per cent of participants were women, averaging about 63 years old.

The average starting WOMAC pain score was 23.1 and the function score was 35.1. Those scores improved slightly — each by about two points — throughout the study.

But when the researchers compared weather conditions to pain and function scores, they found that pain scores worsened by one point for each 10 per cent increase in humidity. Function scores worsened by one point for every 10 hectopascals (0.29 of an inch) increase in barometric pressure.

For a change to be considered “clinically relevant”, it has to alter the WOMAC score by at least 10 points, Dorleijn’s team writes in the journal Pain.

Since variations in humidity and barometric pressure are limited, they could account for changes of five to six WOMAC points at the most, they write.

White agreed that requiring a 10-point change to be significant is the accepted approach to using the WOMAC scale. But that doesn’t mean the pain wasn’t real, she said.

“This is about people seeing a little bit of change, whether it’s the humidity or barometric pressure or function or pain,” White said.

Apart from its small size, the study did have some limitations, White noted. For instance, the patients didn’t have severe osteoarthritis and the pain was only in one joint. Still, she thinks it was a good study.

“They did the best they can do, and they did find a little bit of change. They decided it wasn’t significant,” she said.

But, she said, just because findings didn’t reach statistical significance from the researchers’ point of view, they can be significant from the patients’ point of view.

These days it is all about how you market yourself. The world is not interested in observing you as you are, but perceives you as you want to be perceived. Everything is contrived and nothing is left to the imagination. Even emotions are manufactured and marketable.

So, if you love someone, it is not just enough to care for the person deeply but one has to visibly show it in several different ways. Like buying gifts, remembering birthdays, addressing each other in particular endearments, exchanging cards, calling up constantly, writing e-mails and SMSs and last but not the least, engaging in public displays of affection. There is an entire industry that thrives on manipulating us in this manner.

There is no such thing as privacy anymore. Private, which is loosely defined as something that is secluded from the sight, presence or intrusion of others, is an alien term. With the advent of social networking sites, one gets to know so much in detail about so many people that one is left reeling.

But it was not always like this. I remember the age of subtlety. In fact my childhood was spent during that time. Things were not perfect then. The telephones did not work mostly, the cars were not air conditioned, the roads were pot-holed and the journey of a few miles took a large part of our day. Still, there was romance everywhere.

People then had ample time, and there was a delicacy and refinement to every little thing. For instance, picnics or a trip to the movies would be organised in immense detail. From the table linen, to the crockery and cutlery, to the food menu, all of it would be meticulously planned and discussed. An entourage would be sent a day earlier to secure the picnic spot or the film tickets.

In the majority of cases a professional photographer would also be invited. Scenes of revelry would be captured in his lens and later postcards would be made out of the most spontaneously clicked picture. This would later be converted into season’s greetings cards and circulated amongst friends.

Similarly, there was a gentle nuance to romantic love also. Lovers took great pains to keep their beloved’s identity a secret and never announced their besotted state publicly. Love was something to be felt and experienced between two individuals, and not for the voyeuristic pleasure of all and sundry. My own parents, who adored one another, followed a certain formality in their conversation, and spoke to each other most respectfully.

Brought up in such a scenario, when I got married, the first thing I wanted to hide was my wedding bangles that proclaimed to the world that I was a new bride. My shyness would make me stumble over my alien legally wedded name also.

Over the years I managed to overcome quite a few of my inhibitions. But public display of affection was still unfamiliar to me.

The other day, the flight I was travelling on took a sudden plunge. In sheer nervousness I closed my eyes and clutched my husband’s hand for reassurance.

“Are you alright?” spouse inquired in an amused voice.

“Are we still alive?” I asked, without opening my eyes.

“If you keep pinching my hand like that, one of us might not be,” he laughed.

“Sorry” I said moving away immediately.

“Don’t be, there might be more turbulence, who can tell?” he grinned, grabbing my hand right back.

Safety first?

HANOI, Vietnam — The young Vietnamese creator of hit mobile game Flappy Bird has removed it from the App Store and Google Play saying it ruined his life.

The game which was uploaded in 2013 but only surged to the top in downloads earlier this year was removed early Monday.

The success of the game that based its appeal on being simple and also maddeningly difficult made its creator Nguyen Ha Dong, 29, a minor celebrity.

The game was downloaded more than 50 million times on App Store alone. In an interview with The Verge website, Dong said Flappy Bird was making $50,000 a day in advertising revenue

But tech blogger Carter Thomas said the sudden popularity of Flappy Bird might have been due to use of fake accounts run by computers to create downloads and reviews.

Thomas said he couldn’t prove his suspicion and that the success of Flappy Bird might also be explained by it being “just a wildly viral game”.

Dong, from Hanoi, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the Internet sensation caused by the game “ruins my simple life” and he now hated it.

“I will take Flappy Bird down. I cannot take this anymore,” he wrote.

Dong had agreed to talk to The Associated Press about the game in an interview scheduled for Friday, but cancelled.

On Twitter he didn’t address the inflated downloads allegation but denied suggestions he was withdrawing the game because it breached another game maker’s copyright.

“It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore,” he wrote.

NEW YORK –– Go ahead and eat a few French fries or a couple of bites of chocolate cake — as long as it’s the weekend, when diets tend to fall by the wayside only to be resumed on Monday morning, a new study suggests.

“Regardless of who you are, there’s a rhythm to the weight you lose,” one of the study’s authors, Brian Wansink, told Reuters Health. “You’re going to weigh the most on Sunday night and the least on Friday morning,” he said.

“You don’t want to turn yourself into a glutton over the weekend, but realise that this seems to happen to almost everybody,” said Wansink, who directs Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab in Ithaca, New York.

He and a team of researchers studied Finnish men and women and found that weekday compensation for weekend weight gain proved the most likely formula for long-term weight loss, they wrote in the journal Obesity Facts.

The researchers analysed up to 10 months’ worth of self-recorded daily weights from 80 adults between the ages of 25 and 62. Participants were separated into three groups: losers, who dropped more than 3 per cent of their weight; gainers, who put on more than 1 per cent; and maintainers.

Overall, 18 people lost weight during the study period, 10 were classified as gainers and 52 maintained their weight.

Those in the weight-loss group showed a clear rhythm of putting on pounds over the weekend and slimming down during the week. Though the day of the week predicted weight in all three groups, the pattern in the weight-loss group was more consistent than the patterns among people who gained weight or maintained their weight.

“It appears that long-term habits make more of a difference than short-term splurges,” the authors conclude.

Wansink’s advice to those trying to shed pounds: “Worry less about the weekends, and focus on the weekdays because that’s when weight loss occurs. Just start minding your business on Monday morning.”

Nutritionist Susan Racette also believes that planned indulgences may help some dieters.

“It can be motivating if they feel this is actually an allowance, and it can help them stay on track,” she told Reuters Health.

Racette, from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, was not involved in the current study but was the lead author of a 2008 study that found a similar pattern of weekend weight gains followed by weekday drops.

The new study is “just more evidence that people do fluctuate in their day-to-day intake, and that’s normal in our society,” she said.

Dieters who stray from their regimens may beat themselves up or feel guilty and then find it challenging to return to their weight-loss programmes, Racette and Wansink both said.

“We can speculate that there might even be a psychological benefit in indulging a little more over the weekend in that it makes your self-control on the weekdays a lot easier to handle,” Wansink said.

Weekend splurges “may be better for people psychologically, and it may help them the rest of the week”, Racette said.

“The key is there are different strategies that work for different people, and there’s no one strategy that’s going to work for everyone,” she said. “But this can be a strategy that can certainly help people.”

WASHINGTON –– In low-income countries, people with cars, televisions and computers at home are far more likely to be obese than people with no such conveniences, researchers said Monday.

Eating more, sitting still and missing out on exercise by driving are all likely reasons why people with these modern-day luxuries could be gaining weight and putting themselves at risk for diabetes, researchers said.

The findings in the Canadian Medical Journal suggest extra caution is needed to prevent health dangers in nations that are adopting a Western lifestyle.

“With increasing uptake of modern-day conveniences –– TVs, cars, computers –– low and middle income countries could see the same obesity and diabetes rates as in high income countries that are the result of too much sitting, less physical activity and increased consumption of calories,” said lead author Scott Lear of Simon Fraser University.

“This can lead to potentially devastating societal healthcare consequences in these countries.”

The same relationship did not exist in developed nations, suggesting the harmful effects of these devices on health are already reflected in the high obesity and diabetes rates.

The study included nearly 154,000 adults from 17 countries across the income spectrum, from the United States, Canada and Sweden to China, Iran, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Televisions were the most common electronic device in developing countries –– 78 per cent of households had one –– followed by 34 per cent that owned a computer and 32 per cent with a car.

Just 4 per cent of people in low-income countries had all three, compared to 83 per cent of people in high-income countries.

Those that did have electronics were fatter and less active than those that did not.

People with all three were almost a third less active, sat 20 per cent more of the time and had a nine-centimetre (3.5 inches) increase in waist circumference, compared to those that owned none of the devices.

The obesity prevalence in developing countries rose from 3.4 per cent among those that owned no devices to 14.5 per cent for those that owned all three.

In Canada, about 25 per cent of the population is obese and in the United States, about 35 per cent of people are obese.

“Our findings emphasize the importance of limiting the amount of time spent using household devices, reducing sedentary behaviour and encouraging physical activity in the prevention of obesity and diabetes,” said the study.

Going above and beyond the usual length and breadth of a new model launch test drive, Land Rover aptly and convincingly proved that off-road ability, sporty on-road handling and high levels of luxury and refinement need not be mutually exclusive attributes as conventional wisdom would have. When first launched in 2005, the Range Rover Sport’s very name seemed an oxymoron, but clever engineering, commitment to off-road heritage and a determination to break the mould, ensured success. Unlike “sports” SUVs that preceded it, the Range Rover Sport doesn’t compromise off-road credentials, while the recently launched second generation only serves to further bend the rules of what is possible.

Built on a shorter version of the aluminium unibody frame underpinning the new full-size luxury Range Rover, the smaller Sport is up to 420kg lighter — depending on model — and 25 per cent stiffer than its predecessor, and reaps handling, refinement, performance and efficiency dividends. Utilising advanced and thoroughly engineered suspension and drive-train hardware and software, the Sport tackled extensive and exhaustive test drive routes with flying colours. Devouring narrow, fast, sprawling and imperfect British B-roads with poise, the Sport also never missed a beat through steep, narrow and viscously muddy trails, rivers and negotiated the tight confines of an off-road course built into the gutted bowels of a Boeing 747 jet.

Quick and consistent

Offered with a choice of two supercharged petrol engines, the new three-litre V6 is based on the familiar and devastatingly powerful range-topping five-litre V8. Taking advantage of the Sport’s extensive weight loss, the V6 delivers well in terms of efficiency and performance. Developing 335BHP at 6,500rpm and 332lb/ft throughout 3,500-5,000rpm, the Sports 3.0 V6 briskly sprints to 100km/h in 7.2-seconds and onto 209km/h. More impressive however are its characteristics. With a mechanically driven Roots’ type supercharger, the Sport V6 launches with immediacy and responsiveness from standstill, and pulls consistently and seamlessly hard through a muscular mid-range and all the way to its high rev limit.

Flexible and versatile in the mid-range, the Sport V6 hauls its 2144kg mass confidently, whether overtaking from cruising speed, bearing down at high speed or plowing through gritty off-road conditions. To make the most of its power and torque in terms of performance, efficiency and refinement by distributing them over a wide range of ratios, the Sport uses a silky smooth and quick shifting eight-speed automatic gearbox with manual shift settings. Reassuringly stable and refined inside at high speed and through crosswinds at Cotswold Airport’s runway, the Sport features aerodynamic underfloor paneling, while its 360mm ventilated disc brakes proved effective and well-resistant to fade during aggressive 0-160-0km/h testing.

Composed cornering

Riding on sporty front double wishbone and rear multi-link air suspension, the Sport is smooth and sophisticated on-road, while optional adaptive dampers and anti-roll bars stiffen through corners to suppress weight transfer and deliver taut body control corners, and alternatively become supple on straights for improved comfort. Driven through a permanent four-wheel-drive system with a 58 per cent rear bias for sportier rear-drive like handling, the Sport also features standard centre and optional rear axle Torsen differentials — along with selective brake-base torque vectoring — which ensures vice-like traction and grip. As power is intuitively re-apportioned, the Sport claws its way out of fast or low traction corners with stability and composure.

With a lighter front-end, the Sport V6 version is the sweeter handling Sport version, with a crisp, tidy and eager turn-in and precise and quick steering. Though narrow country lanes and snaking Welsh Brecon Beacons hill climbs, the Sport was agile, controlled and fluid, with excellent vertical rebound control, while upright seating offered good front and side visibility to accurately place it on road. Offered with alloy wheels up to 22-inches (56cm) to fill its muscular wheel-arches, the tested 21-inch (53cm) wheels were firm but smoothly absorbed most lumps, bumps and cracks. For rougher Jordanian roads, one would however recommend the entry-level 19-inch (48cm) wheels and their more forgiving tyres.

Ready for the rough

Tearing through narrow, winding, gravelly and rugged dirt routes at the Sennybridge military training grounds, the Sport was agile and sure-footed with slightly biased under-steer handling characteristics at its grip limit, to make it more intuitive for less experienced drivers. Whether tackling narrow fast roads or treacherous off-road conditions, the Sport’s engineering solutions work to its advantage, with raising air suspension allowing 278mm ground clearance and 850mm water wading depth through rivers. Optional active anti-roll bars are similarly clever, tightening for cornering finesse and softening for straight-line comfort, and disengaging to provide superb 546mm axle articulation and 260mm front and 272mm rear wheel travel off-road.

With extensive off-road hardware and software, the Sport proved to be thoroughly capable, as tested through narrow and deep thick viscous mud trails, steep inclines and rivers at grueling off-road courses at Eastnor and Batsford. In addition to raising ride height and superb wheel travel and axle articulation keeping wheels in contact with the ground, the Sport’s locking differentials keep wheels turning in sync even if one or more wheels are slipping or raised off the ground. Complementing its off-road mechanicals, the automatic Terrain Response off-road driver assist system monitors conditions and alters throttle, braking and differential settings. Impressively, the Sport did all this on road-biased 21-inch alloy wheels!

Class and kit

With more rakish roofline and aerodynamics than its predecessor, the Sport is however still easily identifiable as Range Rover and is more upright than rivals. Though based on the full-size Range Rover under the skin and sharing similar proportions, the Sport’s styling details are also reminiscent of its smaller Evoque sister. More overt and aggressive than the full size Range Rover, the Sport focuses on creating a sense of muscular presence and dynamic tension.

Sophisticated, tasteful and refined inside, the Sport’s cabin has an upright driving position and its classy interior design is complemented by high quality fit and materials, including real metals, woods, double stitched leathers, soft textures.

Spacious and airy inside, the Sport now features an optional third row of seats, while extensive cabin kit includes a 23-speaker Meridian sound system, 12.3-inch (31cm) infotainment screen, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, voice command, pre-timed four-zone climate control, keyless entry and engine start and WiFi Hotspot Internet connectivity. Extensive safety and driver assist kit also includes stability and traction control, adaptive cruise control, trailer stability control, electronic brake-force distribution and hill descent and start controls, traffic sign recognition, lane departure and blind spot monitoring and Isofix child seat anchors, while optional systems include a queue assist that brings the Sport to a full stop in traffic and parking assistance functions.

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3-litre, aluminum block/head, super-charged, V6-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 84.5 x 89mm

Compression ratio: 10.5:1

Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, continuously variable cam timing

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic

Drive-line: 4WD, low ratio transfer case, center and optional rear differential lock

Default torque split, F/R: 42% / 58%

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 335 (340) [250] @ 6,500rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 332 (450) @ 3,500-5,000rpm

0-100 km/h: 7.2-seconds

Top speed: 209km/h

Combined CO2 emissions: 249g/km

Fuel capacity: 105-litres

Length: 4,850mm

Width: 1,983mm

Height: 1,780mm

Wheelbase: 2,923mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.37

Minimum weight: 2,144kg

Wading depth: 850mm

Ground clearance: 278mm

Approach angle, off-road mode: 33°

Departure angle, off-road mode: 31°

Ramp angle, off-road mode: 27°

Wheel travel, F/R: 260 / 272mm

Axle articulation: 546mm

Suspension, F: SLA, air springs, adaptive dampers & anti-roll bar

Suspension, R: Integral-link, air springs, adaptive dampers & anti-roll bar

Steering: Electric assistance, rack & pinion

Lock-to-lock: 3-turns

Turning radius: 12.6-metres

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 360 / 350mm

Wheels: 21-inch alloys

LOS ANGELES — TV viewers increasingly are watching programmes on their own schedule, according to a Nielsen company media study released Monday.

In the past year, time-shifting of television content grew by almost two hours, averaging 13 hours per month, the study found. Viewers averaged nearly 134 hours of live TV viewing a month in 2013, down nearly three hours from 2012.

Television still remains central to media consumption, the study found, despite the increase in time-shifted viewing and streaming video through a computer or smartphone.

On average, American consumers own four digital devices, the report found. The majority of US households own high-definition TV sets, Internet-connected computers and smartphones, while nearly half also own digital video recorders and gaming consoles.

The average consumer spends about 60 hours a week viewing content across various platforms, Nielsen found. Multitasking is common; 84 per cent of smartphone and tablet owners say they use their devices as second screens while watching TV.

“It’s an incredibly exciting evolution in the ways people are using devices to get media,” said Megan Clarken, Nielsen executive vice president.

While sports events generated the most Twitter postings last year, more than 400 million, TV series also had impressive numbers. The top three: “Breaking Bad” with six million tweets, “The Walking Dead” with 4.9 million and “American Horror Story: Coven” with 2.9 million.

An offbeat survey finding: 40 per cent of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 use social media in the bathroom.